German DZ Bank Plans to Roll Out Bitcoin Trading Pilot This Year: Report

DZ Bank, the second largest bank in Germany, is reportedly planning to begin a retail crypto trading trial this year. Per a Bloomberg report, the Frankfurt-based bank aims to make the service available to its over 700 community banks.

“Over the course of the year we will enter the pilot phase for retail trading of cryptocurrencies with the first cooperative banks,” Souad Benkredda, DZ Bank board member responsible for capital market operations, told the publication.

The service is available for private customers who have access to cryptocurrencies independently without seeking financial advice.

Benkredda cited a study from Genoverband that “every second bank wants to offer this solution for their customers.” However, each institute makes the decision independently, she added.

Some of the local banks such as Volksbank Raiffeisenbank Bayern Mitte eG, has been recently expanding options as a part of its Bitcoin strategy. On Wednesday, the bank signed a long-term partnership with Bitcoin energy consulting firm Terahash “to develop new offerings.”

DZ Bank’s Crypto Venture

DZ Bank, which possess $627 billion in assets under management, unveiled a blockchain-based digital custody platform last year. The platform is specifically designed to cater to institutional clients, enabling them to engage in cryptocurrency investments, the bank noted.

DZ hinted in November, that it had plans to include crypto purchases for both institutional investors and individual customers.

This comes after DZ’s application for a crypto custody license from the German financial regulator – BaFin – in June 2023. Holger Meffert, head of digital custody at DZ Bank, expressed a positive tone on the future developments of blockchain-based infrastructures.

“We assume that within the next ten years, a significant proportion of capital market business will be processed via distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based infrastructures,” Meffert said at the time. “In the medium term, we see DLT as a complementary technology to the established infrastructures in the existing capital market processes.”