Deutsche Bank eyes Asia expansion for crypto custody after German launch

Deutsche Bank is preparing to launch a crypto custody service in Germany and is planning to expand the offering to Asian financial centers in 2027, according to a report.

Gerald Podobnik, co-head of the bank’s corporate bank, told Reuters that the rapid growth of the digital asset economy, including hundreds of billions in stablecoins, is driving the expansion plans. The move is part of the bank’s broader goal to achieve 8% compound annual growth in corporate banking by 2028.

The custody service will initially support Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and select stablecoins including USDC, EURC, and EURAU. A spokesperson for the bank recently told Cointelegraph it expects to receive regulatory approval for the offering in October under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations.

Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) authorized Deutsche Bank for the service on Monday, according to a European regulator’s interim register. The bank has not yet specified which Asian markets it will target first.