In an important development for the crypto sector, Germany’s largest financial institution Deutsche Bank has announced its new crypto custody service. Enabled through a partnership with Swiss crypto company Taurus, this would allow institutional clients to store a set amount of cryptocurrencies and tokenized digital assets with the bank.
The news signifies the rising appeal of cryptocurrencies and is part of Deutsche Bank’s plans for providing a safe space for investors, outlined in its World Economic Forum 2020 vision statement, where the financial service provider said that it expects the global tokenized market to reach $24tn by the end of the decade.
Paul Maley, Deutsche Bank’s Global Head of Securities Services, commented: “As the digital asset space is expected to encompass trillions of dollars of assets, it’s bound to be seen as one of the priorities for investors and corporations alike.
“As such, custodians must start adapting to support their clients. This is why we are excited to partner with Taurus, a leading digital asset infrastructure provider with a proven track record and extensive expertise in the crypto and tokenization space.”
The launch of the digital asset custody collaboration is not the first time both entities have worked together, as Deutsche Bank participated alongside Credit Suisse, Pictet Group, and Arab Bank Switzerland in a $65m Series B funding round launched by Taurus earlier in February.
Taurus Co-Founder, Lamine Brahimi, added: “This partnership is the result of a thorough and detailed selection and due diligence process where Taurus was able to demonstrate the quality and breadth of its products and technology.
“We are pleased to implement this global partnership with Deutsche Bank and look forward to supporting the bank in launching digital assets and DLT-based products and services across several booking centres.”
As crypto gets pushed more and more into the mainstream, the EU is set to launch MiCA in 2024 – the most comprehensive cryptocurrency bill of its kind that will focus on preventing money laundering and other criminal behaviours in order to best protect the interests of investors and governments.
