Deutsche Bank, the first major European bank to make it easier for its clients to buy and sell bitcoins

Deutsche Bank gives the starting signal for large European banks in their adoption of digital assets. The financial giant made public this Tuesday an alliance with the uniform fintech Bitpanda, by which it will provide payment solutions to users of the exchange in Germany. In other words, it will make the process of buying and selling cryptocurrencies simpler for small German investors in the first step of the purchase process, by allowing deposits and withdrawals of euros to be made in accounts operated by the entity.

“Deutsche Bank is the first global bank that is willing to work with the payments that our clients send to invest within the platform,” he explains to Five days Sergio Palos, Head of Financial Institutions at Bitpanda. The company’s expectation is that this will make the investment process easier, by avoiding sending money to fund its accounts to distant jurisdictions or to entities little recognized by clients.

From Bitpanda they point out that working together will make it possible to resolve the discrimination of bank accounts with foreign IBANs. “One of the main problems we have is that the issuing bank, where the client has their funds, is reluctant due to regulatory compliance or their own internal policies do not accept that they work with crypto. For example, for the client to send money to a bank in Slovenia or Lithuania they are often more reticent,” says Palos.

Although the decision may not cause major changes in the German client – those convinced will continue to bet and the skeptics will prefer less volatile assets – this Tuesday’s announcement represents a significant change for European banking. One of the biggest fears of banking towards cryptocurrencies has always been the reputational risk and the fear that these assets will be used for money laundering. However, Deutsche Bank’s bet seems to break with the specter of endangering the “regulatory compliance” required by the authorities. “We are confident that we can help build a safe and reliable environment for users in this innovative field of virtual asset investing,” comments Kilian Thalhammer, Global Head of Business Solutions at Deutsche Bank.

Although the decision does not mean that current DB clients in Germany can buy bitcoin with just one click, it does simplify the process, since they only require an internal transfer to the accounts of the exchange in the same bank. Company sources fintech They slip that this agreement leaves that possibility somewhat closer to the emergence of even simpler solutions given the “understanding” that exists between the parties.

The news also comes in the countdown to the entry into force of the European regulations, known as MiCA. The expectation of the sector is that this will change the status quo and will generate a rapid appearance of crypto products by traditional banking. For now, neobanks and managers are speeding up their plans to try to gain advantage in the previous months.

Regarding local operations in Spain, both companies have limited themselves to pointing out that Deutsche Bank “already supports the operational needs” of Bitpanda in the country, but without providing further details. For now, the bank remains cautious about any possibility of offering cryptocurrency buying and selling services to its 500,000 individual clients in Spain.

German bet

The new alliance builds around other efforts by Deutsche Bank to position itself in the crypto world. In June, the bank requested permission in Germany to operate a digital asset custody service, as the entity admitted after requesting a license from the local regulator. The intention, stated the news agency Bloombergwas to increase and diversify commission income.

On the other hand, the group’s investment manager, DWS, launched two ETC (Exchange Traded Commodities) listed vehicles last April that replicate the behavior of the two most relevant cryptocurrencies, bitcoin and ethereum. The global director of the products division and member of the executive board of DWS, Manfred Baue, then pointed out to the media that both currencies are “too important for investors and asset managers to ignore.”

The good performance of digital currencies in recent months also helps consolidate the positive sentiment. Bitcoin accumulates a gain of more than 9% in the last month and 59% so far this year. For its part, Ethereum registers a rise of more than 20% in the last month, supported mainly by the decision of the US regulator to approve exchange-traded funds for this currency.

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