Deutsche Bank awaits regulatory nod to launch institutional crypto custody solutions

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.