$1,400,000,000,000 Deutsche Bank Applies for Cryptocurrency Custody License in Germany: Report

A multinational investment bank and financial services company valued at $1.4 trillion is applying for a crypto custody license in Germany.

According to a new Bloomberg report, Deutsche Bank AG, Germany’s largest and the European Union’s second-largest bank, is seeking regulatory approval to offer a custody service for digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, in Germany.

Says David Lynne, runner of Deutsche Bank AG’s commercial unit,

“We’re building out our digital assets and custody business.

We just put our application into the BaFin for the digital asset license.”

BaFin, the Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht, or the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, is the main German financial regulator. BaFin is responsible for the supervision of banks, insurance companies, and financial markets in Germany.

According to Lynne, Deutsche Bank’s corporate bank is expanding its offerings linked to digital assets as part of a wider strategy to increase fee income. The move mirrors efforts at the bank’s investment arm, DWS Group, to expand income from these offerings, according to Lynne.

While critical of digital assets in the past, Deutsche Bank has made several moves to get a possible first-mover advantage in the industry.

Earlier this year, the bank completed a new proof of concept in collaboration with the Memento blockchain. The bank said that the aim of the new protocol, known as Project DAMA (Digital Asset Management Access), is to provide a more efficient and safe network for managing and accessing digital assets.

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