Wenn Systeme bestimmte Eigenschaften wie Sicherheit garantieren müssen, können formale Methoden diese Eigenschaften beweisen - ähnlich wie bei einem mathematischen Beweis. In der Finanzbranche will man beispielsweise sicherstellen, dass nicht in den Systemen irgendwo Geld verschwindet. Welche Rolle spielen solche Methoden im Software-Architektur-Alltag und wie kann man sie gewinnbringend nutzen?…
We spent our 2025 holidays in Sri Lanka, going for a hike, culture, and beaches. In this fourth and final part, we are travelling along the coast from Mirissa to Colombo.
Digitisation works best when it is built on top of boring, proven technology. And when you don’t skip the actual work.
We spent our 2025 holidays in Sri Lanka, going for a hike, culture, and beaches. In this third part, we are checking out Batticaloa and Sigiriya.
We spent our 2025 holidays in Sri Lanka, going for a hike, culture, and beaches. In this second part, we will continue with the Pekoe Trail until Hatton, and go to Ella after.
We spent our 2025 holidays in Sri Lanka, going for a hike, culture, and beaches. In this first part, follow along for our adventures on the Pekoe Trail, starting from Kandy.
I was helping out a non-German friend to access German government services. This is what I learned about eIDAS.
In 1998, Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, outlined the principle of least power: Applications and systems should be designed using the least powerful technology that supports the intended purpose. In other words, don't use a sledgehammer to crack a nut. The same is true for financial transactions....
Introduction Digital signatures are essential to ensure the authenticity and integrity of online data. They provide a way to verify the origin and integrity of a message, ensuring that the message has not been tampered with and that it indeed comes from the claimed sender. The system’s security collapses if...
The European Central Bank is developing the digital euro based on a catalogue of requirements. These, in turn, come from the European Commission’s draft law, among other sources. But if you look beyond Europe, you can see clear differences to the CBDCs of other countries. Is there any prospect of...
Introduction Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is a digital means of payment, issued by a country’s (or region’s) central bank, denominated in the national currency. According to the latest results of the annual CBDC survey conducted by the Bank for International Settlements, 94% of the respondents say they are working...
When submitting a manuscript to arXiv, the preferred way is to upload the LaTeX source files. arXiv’s infrastructure will then build everything from source. For me, this process has been going smoothly, since typically, LaTeX packages are compatible across versions. However, while updating a draft, I stumbled–for the second time–over...
The transition from cash to digital, tokenised payment methods presents us with new challenges, but also some familiar ones. Payment transactions are the lifeline of the economy, which means they must be particularly protected to withstand attacks. On the other hand, there is a great need for privacy, as new...
I invest a chunk of my earnings into a portfolio, largely comprising ETFs. I don’t reshuffle the portfolio often and I mostly hold on to them. At some point I wondered what the actual yearly interest of the portfolio is? Let’s figure it out.
Die beabsichtigte Offline-Funktion eines digitalen Euro ist die vielleicht aufwändigste, aber für viele Beobachter auch eine der wichtigsten Funktionen einer CBDC. Aber was genau lässt sich darunter vorstellen, wie sehr „offline“ kann digitales Zahlen überhaupt sein und welche Rolle spielen hier die „Secure Elements“, also konkrete Hardware?
Introduction Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is an emerging development in digital payments, with most central banks worldwide researching, piloting, or even operating a digital version of cash. A common definition includes the following characteristics [1]: a digital representation of a country’s or region’s existing currency, issued directly by the...
When we think of “electronic payments”, there are a lot of different interpretations: bank cards, credit cards, mobile money, QR codes, and more. Lately, many central banks – including the European Central Bank – have started investigating or piloting digital currencies (CBDC) to introduce yet another way to pay electronically. The wish list for CBDC is long: it should support online & offline…
In der neuesten Episode des Software Testing Podcasts feiern wir die World Quality Week. Ich spreche mit mit Lars und Bianca darüber, wie man Fehlerfreiheit in Software mathematisch beweisen kann und welche Tools dabei helfen. Bianca erklärt uns anhand von Beispielen aus der Finanz- und Automobilbranche, warum bestimmte Systeme absolute Fehlerfreiheit benötigen. Lars ergänzt das Gespräch mit…
The IMF has recently published a fintech note on cross-border payments with retail CBDC. There is only one problem with it: there is no such thing as a “cross-border payment”. I am being facetious. Clearly, it is possible to move funds from one country to another country. Under many—if not...
Imagine you have some money. You want to send that money to someone else. Typically, the recipient will tell you an account number, e.g., an IBAN. You type the amount and that number into your banking interface and click “send”. What happens behind the scenes will differ widely depending on...