Germany's largest bank, Deutsche Bank, announced that it plans to allow its customers to store cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) next year.
According to a Bloomberg report published this Tuesday, 'Deutsche Bank' plans to launch its digital asset custody service in 2026. This initiative will be carried out in collaboration with the technology unit of the Austrian cryptocurrency exchange 'Bitpanda.'
It is noteworthy that the development of this service will also involve the Swiss technology provider 'Taurus,' backed by Deutsche Bank, according to the report. Founded in 2018, Taurus, based in Switzerland, currently offers enterprise infrastructure to over 25 institutional clients for the issuance, custody, and trading of cryptocurrencies.
If confirmed, these plans would mark the bank's most recent attempt to enter the digital asset storage market, an intention that was first revealed in 2020.
It is important to note that Deutsche Bank has shown a growing interest in the crypto sector in recent years. In early June, the bank's head of digital assets, Sabih Behzad, expressed that they were considering entering the stablecoin market, including the possibility of issuing their own or participating in existing projects.
'Certainly, we can see the momentum of stablecoins along with a favorable regulatory environment, especially in the United States,' said Behzad. 'Banks have a wide variety of options to participate in this industry, from acting as reserve managers to issuing their own token, either individually or in consortium,' he added.
Additionally, Deutsche Bank is reportedly also evaluating the development of its own tokenized deposit solution for use in payment systems.
Eric Trump's prediction gains momentum as European banks join the crypto space.
It is worth noting that Deutsche Bank has considered the introduction of digital asset custody since late 2020 and requested regulatory approval to operate this service in 2023. However, until now, a concrete launch timeline was not known.
This, despite the fact that at the end of last year, the bank indicated that it was developing its own layer 2 (L2) blockchain on Ethereum, using 'ZKsync' technology.
Since 2023, Deutsche Bank also planned to launch cryptocurrency custody options in partnership with Taurus, shortly after requesting the corresponding license in Germany.
Additionally, the entity had already collaborated with Bitpanda since June 2024, working on enhancing the crypto payment systems of the exchange.
This news comes shortly after the German banking group 'Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe' announced this Monday its plans to offer cryptocurrency trading services to its 50 million customers.
Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe highlighted that its new crypto offering responds to growing demand and that it already has regulatory backing within the framework of the MiCA regulation, which came into effect in the European Union in December 2024.
On the other hand, Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization, stated in an interview on April 30 that if banks do not adopt cryptocurrencies, they will disappear within 10 years, citing the limitations of the current financial system in speed and costs.
Moreover, during the Paris Blockchain Week in April, the CEO of Messari, Eric Turner, and Thomas Eichenberger from Sygnum Bank also anticipated greater banking incursions into the crypto sector by mid-2025, driven by regulatory acceptance of stablecoins and blockchain-based financial services.
