Commerzbank now offers cryptocurrency trading and custody to its corporate clients through a partnership with Deutsche Börse subsidiary Crypto Finance. The bank is responsible for digital asset custody, with Crypto Finance providing trading services. Initially the offering includes bitcoin and ether.
The bank landed a crypto custody license from BaFin in late 2023. It has another blockchain partnership with the Deutsche Börse, the 360x joint venture that targets the tokenization of real estate, art and music. For its part, Crypto Finance is a Swiss company, so it was initially regulated by Switzerland’s FINMA. In February of this year its German subsidiary was awarded four licenses by BaFin.
Hence, together the two firms provide a regulatory compliant solution.
“Our offering in digital assets, enables our corporate clients to seize the opportunities presented by bitcoin and ether for the first time,” said Gernot Kleckner, Divisional Board Member Capital Markets in the Corporate Clients segment at Commerzbank. “Our joint solution represents the highest level of security in the trading and custody of crypto assets, which is also a standard we also share with the Deutsche Börse Group.”
Meanwhile, several other German banks are preparing crypto services. In April LBBW announced a collaboration with Bitpanda to start providing corporate crypto services in the second half of 2024. In March DZ Bank confirmed an alliance with Börse Stuttgart to provide services to the 737 community and cooperative banks.
Beyond crypto, Commerzbank has been active in numerouos blockchain initiatives for years. It’s one of the participants in the Commercial Bank Money Token project exploring tokenized deposits.
