Germany’s Savings Banks Could Introduce Crypto Trading Next Year: Report

The network of around 400 savings banks across Germany will vote on whether to proceed with the project early in 2022.

AccessTimeIconDec 13, 2021 at 4:43 p.m. UTC
Updated May 11, 2023 at 5:47 p.m. UTC

Germany’s savings banks are working together to potentially start offering crypto trading to customers directly from their accounts in 2022.

  • The network of some 400 savings banks across Germany will vote on whether to proceed with the project early next year, German business publication Capital reported Monday.
  • If approved, the banks would be able to offer trading of digital currencies such as bitcoin and ether to their customers direct from their checking accounts.
  • A pilot for the project is being developed by payment IT services provider S-Payment, Capital said.
  • The savings banks have about 50 million customers and manage about $1 trillion in assets. Even modest take-up could see sizable inflows of funds into the crypto market.
  • The news represents the second potentially significant development to come from Germany this year following the approval of a law in July allowing “Spezialfonds” (special funds) to allocate up to 20% of their portfolios to crypto, which could equate $400 billion.
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    Jamie Crawley

    Jamie Crawley is a CoinDesk news reporter based in London.


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