DZ Bank serves 737 regional and cooperative banks in Germany. Last month, Bloomberg reported that the bank plans to begin piloting a retail cryptocurrency service for community bank partners. Börse Stuttgart confirmed to Ledger Insights that it is a crypto partner for both crypto trading and custody. DZ Bank confirmed the relationship. This news was first reported by German news media BTC Echo.
The German stock exchange launched a retail-focused virtual currency exchange in 2019, taking the lead in the virtual currency market. Axel Springer and SBI Digital Asset Holdings are investors in Börse Stuttgart Digital.
DZ Bank launched its own institutional digital asset custody solution late last year. This includes a collaboration with Ripple-owned technology company Metaco.
Institutional vs. Retail Custody of Digital Assets
A DZ Bank spokesperson clarified the difference in its relationship with Ledger Insights. Regarding the offering under Metaco Harmonize, they said, “The current scope is the settlement, management and custody of crypto securities regulated by the German Electronic Securities Act.” In the second phase, we plan to expand the scope to selected crypto assets in accordance with MiCAR regulations. Our services are focused solely on institutional customers. The solution that DZ BANK is building with Börse Stuttgart is focused exclusively on retail customers. ”
Retail business is a big endeavor, but the organizational aspect is also important. DZ is Germany's third largest custodian after BNP Paribas and State Street. The group owns Union Investment, Germany's third largest asset manager (424 billion euros in assets under management) and is one of the most prolific investors in tokenized securities. Union recently launched a blockchain and crypto-related fund.
Christoph Hoch, the Union Investment executive responsible for these efforts, announced last year that he was stepping down from his role as head of multi-asset trading. Yesterday, he said he has started his new role as Head of Tokenization and Digital Assets (Portfolio Management) at Union.
