Germany's Commerzbank Applies for Local Crypto Licence: Report

Germany's Commerzbank (CBK) applied for a crypto licence earlier this year, a spokesperson for the bank told local media. This would make it the first major bank in Germany to move towards crypto adoption.

• Local media outlet Börsen-Zeitung said that a spokesperson from the bank confirmed on April 14 that it “applied for the crypto custody license in the first quarter of 2022.”
• The application is to get authorization to offer exchange services along with custody and protection of crypto-assets.
• Commerzbank is Germany’s second-largest listed bank and is partly owned by the government.
• Germany had brought in a new law, effective Jan. 1, 2020, that would encourage German Banks to offer crypto services. The law required any business seeking to offer crypto services in Germany to seek a licence from BaFin, Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority.
• BaFin has received 25 applications for approval as a crypto custodian so far but has only approved four so far.
• Commerzbank was not immediately available for comment at the time of writing.

UPDATE (April 21, 05:52 UTC): Adds request for comment disclosure in the fifth bullet.