Deutsche Bank launched its crypto custody service for institutional clients in Europe on Wednesday, November 11. Companies and investment firms can now hold Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and three stablecoins with the bank and transfer them to third parties. Deutsche Bank manages the digital wallets and the private keys used to authorize transfers on its clients’ behalf.
Germany’s largest bank first announced the service on September 16, saying it aimed to bring its first clients on board by year-end once the regulatory process was complete. Deutsche Bank told Reuters on Wednesday that its first paying clients had begun using the service.
Deutsche Bank supports dollar- and euro-pegged stablecoins
Alongside Bitcoin and Ether, Deutsche Bank supports USDC, which is pegged to the US dollar, and two euro-pegged stablecoins, EURC and EURAU. A company can use the same custody service to manage both its Bitcoin reserves and the dollar- or euro-denominated tokens it uses for payments.
EURAU already has ties to Deutsche Bank. The bank’s asset management subsidiary, DWS, founded AllUnity, the issuer of EURAU, with Flow Traders and Galaxy. AllUnity launched its fully reserve-backed euro stablecoin in July 2025 after securing an electronic money institution license from Germany’s financial regulator, BaFin.
Deutsche Bank manages private keys for institutional clients
Deutsche Bank is initially focusing on its corporate and investment banking clients in Europe. Eligible applicants include companies, asset managers, hedge funds, brokers and custodians that hold assets on behalf of other investors. The bank assesses applications against its own client onboarding and risk criteria.
A fund manager transferring Ether from a portfolio to another wallet, for example, can authorize the transfer without storing the private keys on the fund’s own systems. Deutsche Bank generates the keys, protects them using dedicated hardware and recovers them from backups when necessary. Clients can access the custody platform through Autobahn, the bank’s digital banking portal.
The bank requires approval from more than one person for critical operations and uses a separate environment for assets held offline. These measures aim to reduce the risk of lost keys and unauthorized transfers. Deutsche Bank also notes that the deposit guarantee scheme covering eligible bank deposits does not extend to crypto assets.
Deutsche Bank sets its sights on tokenization and settlement
On the day of the launch, Deutsche Bank also announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Deutsche Asset Management, formerly known as DWS. The two firms will explore which digital asset services they could offer together and what technology those services would require.
Paul Maley, Deutsche Bank’s global head of trust and securities services, said the medium-term goal is to bring custody, tokenization and settlement together on a single regulated platform. The plan spans the process from representing a financial instrument as a token on a blockchain to settling payment when it changes hands. The bank included tokenized financial instruments in the roadmap it outlined in September.
Deutsche Bank aims to expand the service to Asian financial centers after its European rollout. Any additions to the list of supported assets will depend on client demand, the bank’s risk assessment and its approval process for each new asset.
