Deutsche Bank Awaits Regulatory Nod for Institutional Crypto Custody

Germany’s largest bank, Deutsche Bank, is awaiting regulatory approval to launch digital asset custody solutions for institutional clients and corporations in Europe. 

Deutsche Bank plans to go live with the offering for its first clients this year, subject to completion of the applicable regulatory timeline, the bank announced on Wednesday.

The bank plans to offer initial support for Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and select stablecoins, including Circle USDC (USDC), EURC (EURC) and AllUnity EUR (EURAU). It also plans to include support for tokenized financial instruments at a later point.

Deutsche Bank is one of the institutions listed by the Financial Stability Board as a Global Systemically Important Bank,

The development marks the German institution’s latest push into crypto, confirming earlier reports that it was developing crypto custody services. In June, Deutsche Bank’s head of digital assets, Sabih Behzad, revealed that the bank was considering entering the stablecoin market, including issuing its own token. 

The bank expects to receive the license for the custody offering in October, under the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) framework, Heinrich Frömsdorf, a spokesperson for Deutsche Bank, told Cointelegraph. 

German banks ink partnerships to pursue crypto services

The push to pursue crypto services is expected to accelerate after MiCA reached full enforcement on July 1.

Deutsche Bank first revealed plans to launch crypto custody solutions in 2023, as part of a partnership with Taurus, soon after applying for a digital asset custody license in Germany. 

Other German banks are also offering similar solutions. In April 2024, Germany’s largest federal bank, the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, started offering crypto custody solutions after partnering with the Austria-based Bitpanda for its institutional custody platform.

In December 2025, DZ Bank said it received authorization from German regulator BaFin under MiCA to operate its meinKrypto platform.

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