18th September 2026 – (Frankfurt) Deutsche Bank has confirmed it will begin holding Bitcoin and Ether for institutional clients in Europe before the end of the year, describing digital assets as a complement to, rather than a replacement for, the existing financial system. Gerald Podobnik, co‑head of the corporate bank, said the lender aims to provide a secure, regulated gateway to the market, with services built to the standards expected of a globally significant bank. Bitcoin was trading close to $75,547 on Wednesday afternoon, broadly unchanged over the prior day, as the announcement arrived amid renewed policy uncertainty in the United States and steady progress under Europe’s Markets in Crypto‑Assets framework.
The bank expects to receive its custody licence in October and will begin by safeguarding a curated list of tokens: Bitcoin and Ether, along with selected stablecoins and e‑money tokens including USDC, EURC and EURAU. The latter is issued by AllUnity, a venture backed by Galaxy, Flow Traders and DWS, the asset manager in which Deutsche Bank holds a majority stake. Tokenised financial instruments form part of the medium‑term roadmap. Initial customers will include corporates, asset managers, hedge funds, custodians, brokers and sovereign institutions served by the corporate and investment bank.
Deutsche Bank will manage wallets and private keys in‑house, using hardware‑based protections, multi‑person approvals and segregated warm and cold storage. Industry figures note that bringing key management inside the bank signals a long‑term commercial commitment rather than a limited experiment, with custody seen as a strategic entry point that deepens client relationships over time.
The launch follows a three‑year build‑out. The bank applied to BaFin for a digital‑asset custody licence in June 2023, named the Swiss firm Taurus as a technology partner that September, and was later reported to have added Bitpanda’s technology arm. While Wednesday’s communication did not list specific vendors, it said selected external providers would support defined technical components. Rivals in the German‑speaking market have moved early — including Landesbank Baden‑Württemberg and DZ Bank’s meinKrypto platform — while international players such as Standard Chartered and BBVA already offer regulated custody in Europe. What Deutsche Bank adds is scale and a client base that has pressed for institutional‑grade controls following a series of high‑profile hacks this summer.