Overview
- DZ Bank has begun rolling out cryptocurrency trading across participating cooperative banks, a move reported on Saturday that gives retail customers in those networks the ability to buy and sell tokens inside their regular banking apps.
- The DZ Bank platform currently supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Cardano and was launched after the lender won BaFin authorization under the EU’s MiCA rules.
- DekaBank and the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe are preparing a phased retail launch that aims to make Bitcoin and Ether available to roughly 50 million savings-bank customers later this year, with each local bank choosing whether to take part.
- Both banking networks have contracted Boerse Stuttgart Digital for trading infrastructure, custody and liquidity services so banks can offer crypto without building full back-end systems themselves.
- Regulators and bank groups stress the service is for self-directed customers who accept risk, and the rollout comes as Germany signals planned tax changes from 2027 that could alter long-term incentives for holding crypto.