The Deutsche Bank has put into operation its crypto asset custody service for paying clients, the institution said this Wednesday (11). The offering is initially aimed at companies and institutional investors in Europe and marks the commercial launch of a project announced in September 2026.
The service allows storing and transferring digital assets under the bank's responsibility, which manages the wallets and the private keys needed to move them. Among the announced assets are bitcoin, ether and the stablecoins USDC, EURC and EURAU.
The solution serves companies, asset managers, investment funds and other eligible financial institutions. There is no offering for retail clients. Signing up depends on Deutsche Bank's review and approval procedures.
The infrastructure uses storage connected to and disconnected from the internet, hardware protection of cryptographic keys and authorization mechanisms that require multiple approvals for certain operations.
The launch comes less than two months after the initial announcement, made on September 16, when the institution conditioned the availability of the service on compliance with applicable regulatory requirements.
In parallel, the bank announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Deutsche Asset Management, its asset manager, to explore opportunities for technical and commercial collaboration. Among the initiatives examined are tokenized money market funds, investment products linked to crypto assets and stablecoins. The agreement does not represent the launch of these products.
Paul Maley, global head of trust and securities services at Deutsche Bank, told Reuters that the medium-term goal is to develop a regulated ecosystem that integrates custody, tokenization and settlement of digital assets.
The institution has also already expressed interest in expanding the offering to Asia, but has not announced a timeline for this stage.
