Germany’s savings banks and cooperative banks are preparing a wider retail crypto push that would bring Bitcoin and Ethereum trading into familiar banking apps for millions of customers.
The local-bank rollout covers two major German banking networks: Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe and the cooperative banking sector linked to DZ Bank. Together, the networks reach tens of millions of retail customers through regional banks and everyday mobile banking apps.
Sparkassen’s crypto service is being developed through DekaBank, the securities provider owned by the savings-bank group. DekaBank’s retail crypto offering is being built with Boerse Stuttgart Digital, which will provide liquidity through its institutional brokerage infrastructure.
Boerse Stuttgart Digital and DekaBank expanded their crypto trading partnership for the retail segment in October 2025. The release said DekaBank would cover the value chain from trading and custody to the front end, with launch scheduled for the following year.
DZ Bank Platform Reaches Cooperative Banks
DZ Bank’s cooperative-bank route is further along in parts of the network. The bank secured BaFin approval under MiCA for meinKrypto, a retail crypto trading platform designed for Germany’s Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken.
The meinKrypto approval allows access through the VR Banking App, with initial support for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Cardano. The product is aimed at self-directed investors rather than advisory clients.
Each cooperative bank still decides whether to offer the service and must complete its own regulatory notification before going live. Some banks have already introduced the platform, while broader adoption is expected to expand gradually across the network.
The move fits Germany’s broader regulated-crypto path under MiCA. Germany already leads EU MiCA licensing activity, with banks and established financial firms better placed than smaller startups to absorb compliance, custody and supervisory requirements.
One-Year Tax Exemption Faces Review
The banking rollout comes as Germany’s crypto tax treatment faces a separate 2027 budget review.
Under current finance ministry guidance, private crypto disposals can be non-taxable after the relevant one-year holding period. The March 2025 finance ministry guidance says the one-year holding period restarts on each exchange and that private sales can be non-taxable after the holding period expires.
Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil linked the 2027 budget process to plans to tax cryptocurrencies differently. The crypto tax debate has centered on whether Germany could remove the one-year exemption and tax long-term crypto gains more like securities income.
The reported budget target has been framed around roughly €2 billion tied to financial and tax crime measures plus crypto taxation. Germany’s 2027 draft budget has also moved closer to cabinet approval after the finance ministry closed a wider budget shortfall.
No final crypto tax law has passed. The current rule remains in place unless Berlin submits and passes legislation changing the holding-period treatment.
MiCA Creates Bank Entry Point
MiCA has made it easier for banks to offer defined crypto services such as custody, order execution, transfers and brokerage inside a formal EU rulebook. That helps explain why German banks are expanding crypto access at the same time that some offshore or non-licensed platforms face access restrictions.
The July MiCA deadline has already shifted access across Europe, with Binance restricting new sign-ups and deposits in six EU markets while keeping withdrawals and transfers open.
Germany’s bank rollout moves in the opposite direction: regulated local institutions are preparing crypto access through existing apps, while the tax discussion could make long-term holding less favorable if the one-year exemption is removed.
As of July 4, Sparkassen and cooperative-bank crypto trading plans were moving ahead under MiCA, while Germany’s one-year crypto tax exemption remained under review but not yet repealed.
Be the first to comment