Deutsche Bank Pushes for Institutional Crypto Custody in Japan

Deutsche Bank in Japan is pushing to launch an institutional custody service for European investors and corporate clients. The bank aims to start the service within this year, pending regulatory approval under the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation (MiCA).

The initial supported assets will be Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and some stablecoins, including Circle's USDC and EURC, and AllUnity EUR. The bank plans to later expand custody to tokenized financial products.

Deutsche Bank is pursuing approval for the service as part of its broader push to expand its cryptocurrency business. In 2023, it disclosed plans for a crypto custody business in cooperation with Swiss-based digital asset infrastructure company Taurus. Sabih Behzad, head of digital assets, mentioned the possibility of entering the stablecoin market and even issuing its own token.

The European regulatory environment is facilitating the rollout, with MiCA going into full effect from July. This has allowed large financial institutions to review more clearly the possibility of bringing crypto custody and trading services into the regulated system.