The German lender has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Deutsche Asset Management covering tokenised funds, crypto ETCs and stablecoins.
Deutsche Bank’s digital asset custody service has gone live for paying clients, the bank said on 11 November.
The service holds Bitcoin, Ether and the stablecoins USDC, EURC and EURAU for institutional and corporate clients in Europe.
Deutsche Bank manages the wallets and private keys, which reduces the need for clients to build their own custody infrastructure, the bank said when it announced the digital asset custody service on 16 September.
“In the medium term we aim to deliver a fully integrated, regulated ecosystem that supports the custody, tokenisation, and settlement of digital assets,” said Paul Maley, Global Head of Trust and Securities Services at Deutsche Bank.
Clients of the Deutsche’s Corporate Bank and Investment Bank division are the initial target group, including corporates, asset managers, hedge funds, custodians, brokers and sovereign institutions. Retail clients are excluded
Gerald Podobnik, Co-Head of Corporate Bank at Deutsche Bank, said in September the bank’s aim was to offer clients “a secure and regulated gateway to this evolving market”.
Security controls include hardware-based key protection, multi-person approval processes and separate warm and cold storage environments, according to the September announcement.
Deutsche Bank told Reuters in October that it wanted to expand the offering to Asia.
Deutsche Asset Management agreement
Deutsche Bank said on Wednesday that it had entered into a memorandum of understanding with Deutsche Asset Management, the money manager it majority owns, which was known until recently as DWS.
The agreement is “to explore comprehensive commercial and technical collaboration opportunities in the digital asset space”, the bank said.
Tokenised money market funds, crypto-asset exchange-traded commodities and stablecoins fall within the memorandum. Total assets under management at Deutsche Asset Management stood at €1.22tn on 30 September.
European banks under MiCA
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The EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) required every crypto-asset service provider to hold a licence once the transitional deadline passed on 30 June. ESMA’s register lists Deutsche Bank AG for custody and transfer services, with authorisation effective from 12 October and Germany as the single host state.
MiCA’s Article 75 makes authorised custodians liable for client losses from incidents attributable to them, capped at market value at the time of loss.
BNY extended its Digital Asset Custody platform to select institutions in the EU on 10 September, after its European banking entity joined the ESMA register in July, while Banca Sella completed its MiCA notification with the Bank of Italy in May and said it planned to launch custody and transfer services in 2026.
Deutsche Bank is one of 21 financial institutions planning a US dollar stablecoin for launch in 2027. Qivalis, a consortium developing a euro-denominated stablecoin, added 25 banks to its network in May and set a launch target of the second half of 2026.
