Deutsche Bank prepares German crypto custody launch, eyes Asia: Report

Deutsche Bank reportedly intends to debut its crypto custody services in Germany and plans to expand them across Asian financial centers in 2027.

The rapid growth of the digital asset economy, including hundreds of billions of dollars held in stablecoins, is driving the bank’s plans, Gerald Podobnik, co-head of Deutsche Bank’s corporate bank, told Reuters in a Friday report.

Podobnik added that the move is part of Deutsche Bank’s goals to achieve compound annual growth of 8% in corporate banking by 2028.

The bank’s custody service will initially support Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and select stablecoins, including Circle $USDC ($USDC), $EURC ($EURC) and AllUnity EUR (EURAU), according to a Sept. 16 press release.

A spokesperson for Deutsche Bank recently told Cointelegraph that it expects to receive regulatory approval for the custody offering in October, under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulations (MiCA). The European Securities and Markets Authority’s interim MiCA register showed that Deutsche Bank received authorization from Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) on Monday.

Cointelegraph has contacted Deutsche Bank for comment on which Asian financial centers it plans to target first but had not received a response by the time of publication.

In September 2023, Deutsche Bank partnered with cryptocurrency infrastructure platform Taurus to support its crypto custody plans.