German Bank Commerzbank Applies for Crypto Custody License

Commerzbank, a German bank, has applied for a crypto custody license with the country’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). A spokesperson from Commerzbank confirmed that on April 14, the financial institution has “applied for the crypto custody license in the first quarter of 2022” which if approved would be authorized to offer exchange services along with custody and protection of crypto assets. Commerzbank serves over 18 million customers and over 70,000 institutional clients. With the cryptocurrency offering, the firm will mainly target its institutional client base. Since this year, Germany has made it mandatory for any business wishing to offer cryptocurrency services they must first seek approval from the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority also known as BaFin. Currently, only four companies have approval from BaFin and over 25 applications are pending from firms wishing to operate crypto custody businesses. Coinbase Germany was the first to be approved by the regulator in June 2021 while Upvest was most recently approved for a license in March.