Deutsche Bank Launches Crypto Custody Service
Deutsche Bank said today that its digital asset custody service has gone live for paying clients. Custody means safekeeping assets and the cryptographic keys that control them. The launch follows the bank’s announcement on 16 September.
The service covers custody and transfer of Bitcoin and Ether, plus selected stablecoins or e-money tokens, which are crypto assets pegged to a currency. These include USDC, EURC and EURAU. The bank manages the wallets and private keys itself.
Tokenised financial instruments are on the product roadmap. The bank said the range of supported assets may expand with client demand and its own approval, risk and regulatory processes.
Clients are drawn from the bank’s Corporate Bank and Investment Bank divisions: corporates, asset managers, hedge funds, custodians, brokers and sovereign institutions, subject to onboarding criteria. The service is not aimed at retail investors. The bank also warned that crypto-assets are not covered by a deposit-guarantee scheme comparable to the one protecting eligible bank deposits.
On security, the bank cited hardware-based key protection, segregation of duties, multi-person approvals, separate warm and cold storage, a redundant technical setup, and controlled backup and recovery.
In its 16 September release, the bank said a launch this year was subject to the completion of the applicable regulatory timeline.
For brokers, prime-of-prime providers, firms that resell liquidity from larger banks, and crypto-facing operators that hold Bitcoin, Ether, USDC, EURC or EURAU for corporate or fund clients, the launch adds a bank competitor. Those clients can now compare providers on security design.
Deutsche Bank also announced a memorandum of understanding with Deutsche Asset Management, the money manager it mostly owns, until recently known as DWS. Paul Maley, global head of trust and securities services at Deutsche Bank, set out the longer-term aim.
In the medium term we aim to deliver a fully integrated, regulated ecosystem that supports the custody, tokenisation, and settlement of digital assets
Paul Maley, Deutsche Bank
The bank has previously said it wants to expand the offering to Asia.
