Deutsche Bank launched its cryptocurrency custody service in Europe on Wednesday and began accepting paying corporate and institutional clients. The service supports Bitcoin and Ether, and the launch follows the bankโs September announcement of its European custody plans. Germanyโs largest lender also plans to enter Asia and develop tokenization and transaction settlement services.
Deutsche Bank Launches Bitcoin Custody in Europe
Deutsche Bank included Bitcoin in its September list of cryptocurrencies for the planned service in its initial rollout. The lender made the opening conditional on the necessary regulatory approvals and set out plans for a regulated European platform. Wednesdayโs announcement marked the shift from a proposed service to a commercial offering.
Corporate and institutional customers can now place their Bitcoin holdings with Deutsche Bank for safekeeping under a third-party custody arrangement. The customer retains ownership of the holdings, and the bank takes responsibility for storing them on the customerโs behalf. Businesses and institutions can use that arrangement for their existing Bitcoin holdings.
Meanwhile, Galaxy Digital has applied for a US national trust bank charter as part of its financial services expansion. The company seeks federal oversight for those operations, and its application brings the proposal before US banking regulators. That application adds to activity among financial firms pursuing regulated digital asset businesses in their respective markets.
Ethereum Custody Forms Part of a Wider Plan
Deutsche Bankโs platform also holds Ether, the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network, for customers of the custody service. Alongside safekeeping, the lender has identified tokenization and transaction settlement as areas for development within its digital asset business. Tokenization represents assets or ownership rights through digital tokens, and settlement completes a transaction through the transfer of assets.
Paul Maley, the bankโs global head of trust and securities services, outlined the lenderโs plans for those functions. The medium-term plan calls for custody, tokenization and settlement within the same regulated operation, with safekeeping as the starting point. The lender is also exploring digital payments as another potential area of work in digital finance.
Separately, Chainlink and Anchorage Digital introduced CustodySync to connect assets in institutional custody with lending markets on decentralized platforms. Anchorage Digital handles collateral management, and Chainlink provides blockchain-based verification and pricing for the service. The arrangement gives institutions a way to use their holdings as collateral through a link between custody and lending.
Deutsche Bank Plans Asia Expansion and Asset Management Cooperation
Deutsche Bank previously identified Asia as its next region for digital asset custody. The lender has yet to announce a date for the Asian launch or name the markets for its initial rollout. The planned expansion would extend the bankโs custody business beyond Europe.
Alongside the launch, Deutsche Bank announced a memorandum of understanding with its asset management subsidiary to explore digital asset services. The bank described the scope as commercial and technical cooperation across several areas of digital finance. The agreement gives the two units a framework for discussing potential projects involving digital assets.
The lender has disclosed no financial terms for the asset management agreement or start dates for projects under the memorandum. The bank and its subsidiary plan to explore areas of cooperation under the agreement. The memorandum covers digital finance, and the bank has yet to announce any specific products under the agreement.
