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Germany’s third-largest bank, DZ Bank, has announced the launch of a blockchain-based digital custody platform that allows its corporate customers to invest in cryptocurrencies. DZ Bank also stated that it has developed services for individual customers to invest directly in cryptocurrencies.
DZ Bank Begins Offering Cryptocurrency Services for Corporate Customers
DZ Bank, the third-largest custody institution in Germany and the largest among German custody institutions with a volume exceeding 300 billion euros, has announced the launch of a blockchain-based cryptocurrency trading and custody platform for its corporate customers.
Holger Meffert, Head of Securities Services and Digital Custody at the bank, stated, “In the next decade, we assume that a significant portion of capital market transactions will be processed through Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)-based infrastructures. In the medium term, we see DLT as a complementary technology to established infrastructures in existing capital market processes.” The bank has hired dozens of new employees in the areas of IT, operations, and compliance to operate the new custody solution.
It was known that DZ Bank had been working on blockchain technology for years. The German banking giant, which started building a digital custody platform for its corporate customers in 2022, initially focused on crypto securities. This includes Siemens’ crypto bond, which Union Investment and DZ Bank subscribed to six months ago and is now under the bank’s supervision. The bank has previously served as a clearing agent and custodian for Bankhaus Metzler’s crypto fund shares in the first external transaction.
Cryptocurrency Services Will Also Be Provided for Individual Customers
In order to enable corporate customers to invest in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) in the future, DZ Bank applied to the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) for a crypto custody license in June. In parallel with the solution for corporate customers, the bank is also working on services that will allow individual customers to invest directly in cryptocurrencies.
Thanks to its existing infrastructure, the bank is also actively involved in the exploratory phase where the European Central Bank (ECB) tests high-volume capital market transactions using central bank money.
