Overview
- Deutsche Bank, which told Reuters on Friday it is 'weeks away' from launching custody, named Germany as the first market and signaled plans to expand into Asian financial centres in 2027.
- The initial product will place wallets and private keys under bank management and add transfer controls so institutions can move tokens through Deutsche Bank’s systems rather than run their own wallet infrastructure.
- Planned supported assets at launch include Bitcoin, Ether, USDC, EURC, EURAU and clients will access custody through Deutsche Bank’s Autobahn and corporate portals.
- The go‑live remains conditional on completion of EU MiCA-related reviews plus national sign-offs by BaFin and the Bundesbank, and the service is restricted to eligible institutional and corporate clients rather than retail customers at rollout.
- Deutsche Bank positions custody as the foundation for later services such as stablecoin on/off-ramps, tokenized deposits and digital securities, while warning custody does not remove market price risk or provide deposit-guarantee protections.