Commerzbank First Bank To Apply For Crypto License In Germany

Twitter icon  •  Published il y a 1 an  •  Mark Weaden

One of the leading banks in Germany, Commerzbank (CBK), has applied for a local crypto license

One of the leading banks in Germany, Commerzbank (CBK), has applied for a local crypto license. The move marks the first bank in the country to request a license and if the bank’s application is accepted, then Commerzbank would be authorized to offer exchange and crypto-asset services. 

The report came from local media outlet Börsen-Zeitung, claiming that the bank confirmed on April 14th that it “applied for the crypto custody license in the first quarter of 2022.”

According to a spokesperson for the bank, Commerzbank applied for a crypto license earlier this year. The cryptocurrency industry saw the vast majority of the blockchain companies on the market reach their all-time-highs back in November 2021. 

Although the markets are down at the moment, the adoption of cryptocurrency continues to soar, with many predicting that there will be a continuing rise in adoption, as the industry moves mainstream. 

What does Commerzbank plan to do?

The bank’s spokesperson stated that the aim of the German bank is to help shape the emerging digital ecosystems, especially in relation to custody and trading in non-physical assets. 

A senior spokesman for Commerzbank Bernd Reh had this to say on the move “To this end, we entered into a cooperation with Deutsche Börse and Fin-Tech 330x in spring 2021. In addition, we are pursuing our own digital asset strategy and are also planning our own offerings for our customers in the coming years. We have applied for a license from the Bafin for the safekeeping of crypto assets. The future offer is initially aimed at institutional customers.”

We have already seen German bank Nuri and e-bank giants Revolut adopt cryptocurrency as a payment option, with award-winning German bank N26 also looking to follow suit. 

However, with the markets still extremely volatile, many long-standing banks and financial institutions are still keeping their distance. Although, with adoption rates increasing, offering at least a custodial wallet to store digital assets may become the norm for these institutions. 

What does this mean for Commerzbank customers?

As the second-largest listed bank in Germany, if the license is approved, it will add a great deal of credence to owning and completing transactions with crypto-assets. On top of that, the license would authorize the bank to offer exchange services as well as custody of digital assets.

With a wealth of crypto exchange platforms available to German citizens, it is a huge market to enter. Having said that, the German government has been supportive of cryptocurrency, bringing in a new law on January 1st, 2020, encouraging banks to offer crypto services. Commerzbank is part-owned by the German government, meaning the plan may be to encourage citizens to manage and store crypto with a registered national bank, rather than looking elsewhere for third-party asset management. 

Mikkel Morch, the executive director at crypto/digital asset hedge fund ARK36, believes the application could be seen as “the beginnings of a race within the traditional banking field to gain a competitive edge by being the first entity in its local market to offer crypto services" and that "demand is so high across the whole spectrum of banking clients that it compels entities that were previously hostile to crypto to completely change course.”

Author

Mark Weaden

Mark Weaden is a British researcher and crypto enthusiast, living in Barcelona. His work has been published on a variety of leading cryptocurrency sites.