Deutsche Bank opens crypto custody to paying corporate and institutional clients in Europe, starting with bitcoin, ether and three stablecoins
What happened. Deutsche Bank said on Wednesday 11 November that its Digital Asset Custody service is live for institutional and corporate clients in Europe, The Block, Decrypt and Cointelegraph reported; Decrypt, and BTC-ECHO, Cryptoast and Crypto Insiders citing Reuters, said it is open to paying clients. The bank holds clients' bitcoin, ether and the stablecoins USDC, EURC and EURAU, manages their wallets and private keys and makes transfers to other parties for them, The Block and Crypto Insiders reported. The same day it signed a memorandum of understanding with Deutsche Asset Management, its majority-owned asset manager formerly known as DWS, to explore tokenised money market funds, crypto exchange-traded commodities and stablecoins, The Block and Decrypt reported.
Why it matters. Germany's largest bank announced the plan on 16 September, pending regulatory clearance, Cointelegraph and Cryptoast reported; Crypto Insiders said the service is now in use rather than announced. Paul Maley, the bank's global head of trust and securities services, said the medium-term aim is a regulated ecosystem covering the custody, tokenisation and settlement of digital assets, The Block and Decrypt reported. Cryptoast listed other European banks that already offer crypto custody or trading, among them Commerzbank, Société Générale's SG-FORGE and BBVA.
- The service is not for retail customers, and the bank warns that crypto it holds is not covered by deposit protection and is not protected against price falls, fraud or failures of other market participants, Crypto Insiders and Decrypt reported.
- Deutsche Bank's entry in the EU's MiCA register for crypto custody and transfer services is dated 12 October and names Germany's BaFin as its supervisor, Cointelegraph and BlockTempo reported; Observatorio Blockchain and BlockTempo said it was made through the notification route MiCA provides for banks.
- Private keys are protected by hardware, with warm and cold storage and transaction approvals by several people, The Block and BlockTempo reported.
- Taurus has worked with the bank on custody and tokenisation technology since 2023, and Bitpanda's technology arm was reported to be involved, The Block and Cryptoast (citing Bloomberg) reported.
- Deutsche Bank has not said which clients have joined or how much crypto it holds for them, Crypto Insiders and Blockcast reported; it plans to extend the service to Asia, BTC-ECHO, Observatorio Blockchain and Decrypt reported.
Read the originals (9), usually in their own language:
- Deutsche Bank goes live with digital asset custody service, signs asset management deal · The Block
- Deutsche Bank Goes Live With Crypto Custody After a Five-Year Buildup · Decrypt
- Deutsche Bank launches crypto custody for companies and institutions · Cointelegraph
- 'Regulated ecosystem': Deutsche Bank starts crypto custody · BTC-ECHO, headline translated by us
- Deutsche Bank launches its digital asset custody service, including Bitcoin and Ethereum · Cryptoast, headline translated by us
- Deutsche Bank now holds Bitcoin and Ethereum for companies · Crypto Insiders, headline translated by us
- Deutsche Bank launches crypto custody that it can also offer in Spain · Observatorio Blockchain, headline translated by us
- Deutsche Bank's crypto custody service officially goes live, supporting five assets including BTC and ETH · BlockTempo, headline translated by us
- Deutsche Bank officially opens bitcoin and ether custody with German regulatory approval, adding stablecoins such as USDC · Blockcast, headline translated by us