Deutsche Bank to Launch Bitcoin and Ethereum Custody for Institutional Clients in Europe

TLDR

• Deutsche Bank plans to launch regulated crypto custody later in 2026, subject to regulatory approval
• The service will cover bitcoin, ether, USDC, EURC, and EURAU for institutional clients
• The bank manages $2.217 trillion in assets under management as of June 30
• Germany’s BaFin clearance is still required before the service goes live
• Deutsche Bank has been building toward this since 2015, partnering with Taurus in 2023

---

Deutsche Bank, one of Europe’s largest banks, announced plans to offer regulated digital asset custody services to institutional clients later in 2026.

JUST IN: 🇩🇪 €1.9 trillion Deutsche Bank announces it’s launching Bitcoin custody services for institutional and corporate clients 💥 pic.twitter.com/zxUwPLSH17

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) September 16, 2026

The Frankfurt-based bank said the service will support bitcoin, ether, and select stablecoins including USDC, EURC, and EURAU. Clients will not need to build their own infrastructure. Deutsche Bank will manage wallets, private keys, and third-party transfers on their behalf.

The bank reported $2.217 trillion in assets under management as of June 30. It was founded in 1870, making it one of the oldest financial institutions to move into crypto custody.

The initial rollout will target Germany first. Clients will come from Deutsche Bank’s Corporate Bank and Investment Bank divisions, including asset managers, hedge funds, brokers, custodians, and sovereign institutions.

Gerald Podobnik, Co-Head of Corporate Bank at Deutsche Bank, said digital assets are not a replacement for the traditional financial system but a complement to it.

Security and Infrastructure

The custody service will use hardware-based key protection and separate warm and cold storage environments. It will also include multi-person approvals and backup and recovery controls.

External technology providers will handle some technical components. The bank has not named all of them publicly, though Taurus and Bitpanda have been previously linked to the project.

The asset list may grow over time. Any additions must pass client demand checks, product approvals, risk reviews, and regulatory requirements before being added.

A Long Road to the Vault

Deutsche Bank’s interest in blockchain goes back to 2015. The bank joined the R3 distributed-ledger consortium in 2016 and had crypto custody on its internal agenda by late 2020.

In 2023, Deutsche Bank partnered with Swiss firm Taurus for custody infrastructure and applied for a German digital asset custody license that same year.

Its majority-owned subsidiary DWS also moved forward. Its Allunity venture secured a BaFin e-money license in July 2025 and launched EURAU, the euro-backed token now on Deutsche Bank’s custody list.

Tokenized financial instruments are also planned for a later stage, though no timeline has been given.

The service is not live yet. It still requires clearance under Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework, known as MiCA. Timing, geography, and supported assets could still change before launch.

Deutsche Bank is not the first major European bank to enter this space. Standard Chartered and BBVA already offer institutional crypto custody. Commerzbank received its BaFin crypto-custody license in 2023.

Still, Deutsche Bank’s scale puts this move in a different category. A bank with over $2 trillion in assets adding bitcoin and ether to its custody roster marks a concrete step in bringing crypto into mainstream institutional finance.