Vottun to Develop Payment Solution in Spanish Regulatory Sandbox with Support from PwC, Stellar Development Foundation

BARCELONA and SAN FRANCISCO — September 28, 2021 — Earlier this year, the Central Bank of Spain (BdE), the Monetary Authority of Spain (Comisión Nacional de Mercados y Valores – CNMV), and Directorate-General for Insurance and Pension Funds (DGSFP) announced that Spanish startup Vottun was selected to participate in the Spanish Regulatory Sandbox. Today, the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) announced a grant of up to US$850,000 to help Vottun showcase its Stellar-powered solution for intra-company cross-border payments.

Vottun will integrate their payments platform onto Stellar, which will enable corporate clients to tokenize intra-company payments using Stellar-based digital currencies and seamlessly execute and settle payments. Multinational professional services network PwC will join forces with Vottun to test the solution, providing guidance and trusted expertise in banking and financial services to support the project. Working with PwC and SDF, Vottun will provide companies with a compliant solution that permits them to transact and operate between different geographies.

After the announcement was made, Vottun CEO, Luis Carbajo, commented, “We are very proud and humbled to work with the Bank of Spain and all the Spanish regulatory agencies involved in testing our platform for cross-border transactions.”

Javier Hernando, Finance Function Partner at PwC Spain, said, “Vottun shares our vision that the financial services industry is ready for a digital revolution. Blockchain technology is one of the components of this digital transformation and PwC is committed to understanding how blockchain can be used to advantage our customers.”

By integrating onto Stellar, Vottun will leverage the power of Stellar’s stable, secure, and decentralized network and industry-leading compliance capabilities. Luis Carbajo said, “We see blockchain, and our integration with Stellar specifically, as a strategic next step for our business, offering us the ability to provide cheaper, faster and fully compliant payments for our customers. Vottun looks forward to working with central banks and financial institutions in their transition into the digital economy.”

Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director of SDF, said, “The Sandbox’s objective of understanding digital solutions and adapting regulation to their pace is laudable. We welcome this opportunity to show Spanish regulators how payment solutions built on Stellar can provide certainty, safety, and control—all within an open network that encourages innovation.”

The Sandbox is a testing environment that supports the development of innovative finance projects, with real users, under a secure framework. It received over 67 submissions for the current cohort. The final participants were selected by monetary policy and technical experts from the CNMV and the Central Bank of Spain. Vottun is one of only three startups selected among a cohort of mostly large banks. After a six-month trial period in the Sandbox, the goal is for Vottun to emerge with the legal and regulatory certainty that it needs to operate in a compliant way in this rapidly evolving market.‍‍

About Vottun‍

Vottun is a Spanish startup, also based in the USA, that offers data traceability and business solutions through blockchain technology. Its blockchain solutions, aims to democratize the use of blockchain, facilitating its adoption by any organization regardless of their knowledge of the technology. Its patented technology allows interoperability between public and private blockchains in a scalable way. Vottun is the leader in data traceability and certification solutions with blockchain in Spain and also serves customers in USA, LATAM and Europe. Companies of all sizes are using its solutions without a high level of technical sophistication, counting today with clients such as Naturgy, Barcelona City Council, The World Bank, and Grupo BIMBO. In Vottun's recent history, received several awards and recognitions: listed as top vendor in Gartner 2020 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies; Winner European blockchain competitions: Blockchers, Blockis; Winner startup competitions: Bimbo Bake Lab, Madrid in Motion, Global Top 100 Santander, Best Innovation Company 2020 (award received by King of Spain and President of Spanish Government), Best Startup 2020 Expansion.‍

About Stellar‍

Stellar is a decentralized, fast, scalable, and uniquely sustainable network for financial products and services. It is both a cross-currency transaction system and a platform for digital asset issuance, designed to connect the world’s financial infrastructure. Financial institutions worldwide issue assets and settle payments on the Stellar network, which has grown to over 5 million accounts.‍

About Stellar Development Foundation‍

The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) is a non-profit organization that supports the development and growth of Stellar, an open-source network that connects the world’s financial infrastructure. Founded in 2014, the Foundation helps maintain Stellar’s codebase, supports the technical and business communities building on the network, and serves as a voice to regulators and institutions. The Foundation seeks to create equitable access to the global financial system, using the Stellar network to unlock the world’s economic potential through blockchain technology.