The step of German bank giants into crypto technology underlines the growing trend in Europe
The step of German bank giants into crypto technology underlines the growing trend in Europe
- crypto attitude services were first brought into the area of responsibility of the German financial regulators in January 2020
- The supervisory authorities of the European Union are still in the process of designing and implementing their own regulatory measures for digital assets
The Commerzbank, Germany's fourth largest bank, has confirmed that they want to offer customers custody and exchange services for digital assets and thus follow a growing number of conservative banks in Europe that switch to digital assets.
Bernd Reh, senior spokesman for Commerzbank, confirmed this compared to local media Börsen Zeitung in January at the Federal Institute for Financial Service Supervision (BAfin) The license requested and would initially focus on institutional customers. The banking giant currently has 70,000 company and institutional customers worldwide.
"Where traditional and large banks viewed crypto as a competition until recently, we now see the takeover of some of the most conservative actors in the banking sector," says Mikkel Morch, Executive Director at the Krypto Hedge fund Ark36. Commerzbank, which, according to its recent annual financial statements at the end of 2021, managed around 541 billion euros ($ 583 billion), has been working on several blockchain projects since 2018.
In January 2020, Germany introduced crypto custody as a new financial service in the Banking Act. "Crypto-negotiation transactions are also subject to the communication of [The German Central Bank] Deutsche Bundesbank to provide permission to provide financial services," said BaFin on its website for crypto licensing.
The regulatory authority also works hard against unauthorized activities. The supervisory authority recently initiated investigations against several cryptodic service companies that have not been granted approval for the company in the country. In the event of a guilty verdict, the participants threaten up to five years in prison.
authorities and legislators in the European Union are still in the process of building regulatory systems, but some, like those in Germany and Portugal, have already introduced registration procedures.
and traditional banks are increasingly applying for crypto licenses in Europe, including Portugal, where Last week, the first authorized bank received a crypto license from the central bank of the country.
Last July Coinbase was awarded to Germany's First Krypto-Lizenz . A report by Coincub last week classified Germany as the most crypto -friendly country.
Morch added: "As the beginning of a race within the traditional banking system, these steps can be interpreted in order to gain a competitive advantage by being the first company on its local market that offers cryptodictions."
As a result, the crypto acceptance will increase, he believes, and it will be a mainstream financial service-instead of the "next big thing".. .
The post "The entry of German bank giants into the crypto world underlines the growing trend in Europe" is not a financial advice.