Deutsche Bank applied for cryptocurrency license

Deutsche Bank plans to increase fee income through new services and product offerings related to digital assets

Deutsche Bank has applied to the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) for a license to provide digital asset custody services, Bloomberg writes.

“We are growing our digital asset and custody business. We just applied to Bafin for a digital asset license,” David Lynn, Deutsche Bank’s head of corporate banking, said at a conference June 20.

The move is part of the bank’s strategy to boost fee income, Lynn said. It also reflects the efforts of Deutsche Bank’s investment arm, DWS Group. On increasing revenue from cryptocurrency-related products.

Our experts point out that Deutsche Bank can hardly be called a cryptocurrency-friendly bank. However, its customers could buy cryptocurrencies using their bank accounts or cards from appropriately licensed European cryptocurrency companies.

The bank itself did not provide cryptocurrency services due to the lack of legislation. And companies offering crypto services in Germany opened accounts with other organizations (such as Solaris Bank) for their activities.

The cryptocurrency storage service launched by Deutche Bank is the easiest in terms of IT and regulation. This is made possible by the adoption of Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations. Which opens the door for many financial institutions in the EU to provide crypto services.

Also the Council of Europe announced the adoption of new legal rules for the digital asset industry in the EU MiCA in mid-May. The rules oblige cryptoplatforms, such as exchanges and custodians (asset custodians), to be mandatorily registered in one of the bloc’s member countries.