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Deutsche Bank launches bitcoin, ether and stablecoin custody for institutions in Europe, with Asia planned for 2027
🟢Bullish for $BTC, $ETHGermany's largest bank now offers live bitcoin and ether custody to institutional clients, widening regulated bank access to both.News sentiment, not financial advice. It reflects the likely impact of this news, not a price prediction.
Summary
Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest bank, launched its digital asset custody service for corporate and institutional clients on Wednesday, Nov. 11, The Block and Cointelegraph reported.
The service lets clients hold bitcoin, ether and select stablecoins, including USDC, EURC and AllUnity's EURAU, with the bank managing their wallets and private keys, and transfer them to other parties, according to both outlets.
The bank also signed a memorandum of understanding with Deutsche Asset Management to explore tokenized money market funds, crypto ETCs and stablecoins on the new platform, The Block and Cointelegraph said.
In October, Reuters reported (as cited by Cointelegraph and Bitcoin Magazine) that the bank planned to launch in Germany before expanding to Asian financial centers in 2027.
Updates
- Update, : Oct. 18: CoinDesk, also citing Reuters, said the German launch remains subject to regulatory approval and that the bank also plans stablecoin conversion, tokenized deposits and digital bond issuance services.
- Update, : Update (Nov. 11): Deutsche Bank's custody service is now live for institutional and corporate clients, The Block and Cointelegraph reported, and the bank signed an MoU with Deutsche Asset Management on tokenized money market funds, crypto ETCs and stablecoins.
- Update, : Update (Nov. 11): Bitcoin Magazine confirmed the custody service is live for institutional and corporate clients in Europe, and noted the bank has not named any customers or disclosed fees.
- Update, : Update (Nov. 11): Decrypt also reported the launch, saying the service now holds bitcoin, ether and three stablecoins for institutional and corporate clients in Europe after a five-year buildup.
Key facts
- The Block: the custody system uses warm and cold storage, hardware-based protection for private keys and transaction approvals involving multiple people.
- Paul Maley, Deutsche Bank's global head of trust and securities services, quoted by The Block: "In the medium term we aim to deliver a fully integrated, regulated ecosystem that supports the custody, tokenization, and settlement of digital assets."
- The Block: Manfred Bauer, chief product officer at Deutsche Asset Management, said the firm plans to launch a tokenized money market fund; the asset manager reported €1.22 trillion in assets under management as of Sept. 30.
- Cointelegraph: Deutsche Bank's MiCA register listing for crypto custody and transfer services is dated Oct. 12 and names BaFin as its regulator.
- The Block and Cointelegraph: the bank partnered with crypto infrastructure firm Taurus in 2023 to develop custody services.
- Deutsche Bank plans to expand crypto custody into Asian financial centers in 2027, per Reuters.
- Podobnik said the move is part of a goal of 8% compound annual growth in corporate banking by 2028.
- ESMA’s interim MiCA register showed BaFin authorization for Deutsche Bank on Monday, according to Cointelegraph.
- Bitcoin Magazine said Deutsche Bank first announced its bitcoin custody plans for European corporate and institutional clients in September.
- Bitcoin Magazine listed BNY Mellon, State Street, Standard Chartered, U.S. Bank and Citigroup as banks that have committed to direct crypto custody over the past 18 months.
- CoinDesk said Deutsche Bank also plans to offer stablecoin conversion, tokenized deposits and services that help clients issue digital bonds and other blockchain-based securities, as part of a target of roughly 8% compound annual revenue growth in its corporate bank from 2025 to 2028.
- CoinDesk dated the bank’s BaFin authorization under MiCA to Oct. 12, per ESMA’s interim register, said the German launch remains subject to regulatory approval, and said it is unclear which Asian markets the bank will target first.
- CoinDesk said Deutsche Bank has worked with Bitpanda and Taurus on its custody plans.
- Bitcoin Magazine: Deutsche Bank has not named any custody customers or disclosed its fees.
- Decrypt: the live custody service holds bitcoin, ether and three stablecoins for institutional and corporate clients in Europe.
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