Deutsche Bank Awaits Regulatory Approval to Launch Institutional Crypto Custody in Europe
Key Takeaways
- •Deutsche Bank expects to receive a custody license in October under the EU's MiCA framework and plans to begin serving its first institutional and corporate clients this year.
- •The initial service will cover Bitcoin, Ether, and selected stablecoins such as Circle's USDC, EURC, and AllUnity's EURAU with tokenized financial instruments to be added at a later stage.
- •The bank first revealed its crypto custody plans in 2023 as part of a partnership with Swiss-based digital asset infrastructure provider Taurus.
- •MiCA's full enforcement on July 1 is expected to accelerate crypto service adoption, as it allows firms authorized in one EU member state to operate across the bloc.
- •Other major German banks have pursued similar offerings, with Landesbank Baden-Württemberg launching crypto custody in April 2024 and DZ Bank receiving BaFin authorization for its meinKrypto platform in December 2025.
Germany's largest bank, Deutsche Bank, is awaiting regulatory approval to launch digital asset custody solutions for institutional clients and corporations across Europe.
The bank announced on Wednesday that it plans to go live with the offering for its first clients this year, subject to completion of the applicable regulatory timeline, per an official announcement.
Heinrich Frömsdorf, a spokesperson for Deutsche Bank, told Cointelegraph that the bank expects to receive the license for the custody offering in October under the European Union's Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) framework, which regulates crypto-asset services such as custody and lets firms authorized in one member state offer them across the bloc.
Initial support will cover Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and select stablecoins, including Circle USDC (USDC), EURC (EURC) and AllUnity EUR (EURAU). Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to hold a steady value against a reference asset such as the US dollar or the euro. The bank also plans to include support for tokenized financial instruments, which represent traditional financial assets as digital tokens on a blockchain, at a later stage.
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.
Deutsche Bank is one of the institutions listed by the Financial Stability Board as a Global Systemically Important Bank, a designation for banks whose distress could affect the wider financial system.
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 Swiss-based digital asset infrastructure provider 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, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, started offering crypto custody solutions after partnering with 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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