Key Takeaways
- Deutsche Bank will launch crypto custody in Germany to drive its 8% corporate banking growth goal by 2028.
- The bank plans to expand these services to Asian financial centers and later roll out stablecoin support.
- Deutsche Bank will introduce tokenized deposits and securities, targeting a $7T asset tokenization market.
Deutsche Bank Confirms Launch Of Crypto Custody Services in Germany
Deutsche Bank, one of the world’s largest banks, is preparing to launch a cryptocurrency custody suite in Germany.
The organization, which holds over $2.2 trillion in assets and operates in 58 countries, revealed that it is weeks away from launching a crypto custody service in Germany, enabling customers to safeguard their digital assets with a regulated lender.
Gerald Podobnik, co-head of Deutsche Bank, stressed that this was part of the bank’s strategy to tap into the new digital economy sources and achieve a compound annual growth of 8% in corporate banking by 2028.
On the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings in Bangkok, Podobnik told Reuters that the launch of these services would expand to Asian countries that serve as financial centers, as a means of attracting customers to its platform.
Podobnik highlighted the significance of the digital economy, pointing to stablecoins and the growth of this asset class as examples of how new liquidity classes have surged in recent years around digital assets.
“I believe that, as the financial system, we will need to offer tokenized or blockchain solutions to our clients as additional services alongside our traditional ones … but not necessarily to replace what we are doing today,” Podobnik declared, hinting at a future hybrid conception of the global financial system.
The executive also revealed that the bank planned to debut tokenization services later, including tokenized deposits and a platform to help customers issue blockchain-based securities, including digital bonds. In its Asset Tokenization 101 report, Deutsche Bank Research estimated that the market for tokenized real-world assets (RWA) could grow to reach $7 trillion in volume by 2035.
The lender announced these custody services in September, clarifying that the first iteration of its offering would support large cryptocurrency assets such as bitcoin and ether, with a phased rollout that will deliver stablecoin integration at a later, undefined date.
