Deutsche Bank says it is ready to hold cryptocurrencies for its clients. On Thursday, October 15, in Bangkok, Germany’s largest bank told Reuters it was a few weeks away from launching its first digital asset service, according to Journal du Coin. Bitcoin and ether will lead the way, before an expansion to Asian financial centers.

What Deutsche Bank’s service covers

The first product is a custody service: the bank holds and secures its clients’ cryptocurrencies, starting with bitcoin and ether. According to Journal du Coin, the offering is initially aimed at institutional clients in Germany. In September, the bank had already described an offering designed for asset managers, family offices and pension funds, rather than the general public.

The timeline was presented by Gerald Podobnik, co-head of corporate banking at Deutsche Bank, on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank meetings in Bangkok. The rollout will take place in stages. After custody, the bank plans on- and off-ramps to allow its clients to move into and out of the most established stablecoins. Tokenized deposits would follow, then the issuance of securities on blockchain, such as digital bonds. Expansion into Asia is announced for as early as next year.

This is a timeline announcement: at this stage, only the custody service is presented as imminent. The subsequent steps are part of the roadmap, with no specific date given in the source.

A growth objective, not a replacement

According to Journal du Coin, Gerald Podobnik links this project to a target of 8% annual growth for corporate banking by 2028. The executive, who has been with the bank for 23 years, points to the hundreds of billions of dollars held in stablecoins: in his view, they show that new pools of value have emerged over two decades.

He does, however, set a limit: “As a financial system, we will need to offer tokenized or blockchain solutions to our clients, alongside our traditional services… but not necessarily to replace what we do today.” The program therefore adds to conventional banking business; it does not replace it.

A long journey, with a Swiss partner

The bank is not entering this field overnight. According to Journal du Coin, its application for authorization with BaFin, the German financial regulator, dates back to June 2023: it took no less than three years to go from license application to product.

In the meantime, Deutsche Bank has formed two separate partnerships: first an alliance with the Swiss company Taurus, then an agreement with Bitpanda Technology Solutions. These partnerships are not fundraising rounds; they provide building blocks for the offering the bank is about to launch. The source does not specify the exact role of each in the final service. In addition, since 2024 the bank has been developing a layer-2 on Ethereum as part of Project Dama 2, run from Singapore.

One crypto bank among others in Germany

Deutsche Bank is not alone. According to Journal du Coin, the Sparkassen, DZ Bank, Commerzbank and Clearstream are also opening up crypto to their clients. Competition is therefore playing out primarily in the German market, among traditional institutions adding digital asset custody to their range.

The mechanism is well known: when a major bank offers custody itself, institutional investors can hold cryptocurrencies with a custodian they already work with. For the Swiss financial center, the source provides no figures or reaction; the only established link is the partnership with Taurus.

The European stablecoin framework is also taking shape: according to Journal du Coin, USDC this month became the first “significant” stablecoin under MiCA in the European Union. Useful context for the second step announced by Deutsche Bank, the stablecoin on- and off-ramps.

Sources

  • Journal du Coin: “Deutsche Bank: the German giant opens its vault to crypto in a few weeks”