200-year-old German bank launching crypto services

Donner & Reuschel, a 222-year-old German private bank with $10.7 billion in assets under management, has announced plans to launch cryptocurrency services for customers.

According to a March 9 Finance Magnates report, Donner & Reuschel said it will start by allowing its customers to purchase crypto assets and launching a cryptocurrency custody service. 

The reason given by the bank for the launch of the new products is simple: high market demand. 

“We have been observing the digital assets market for quite some time and are convinced of the potential of blockchain technology with regard to classic securities transactions,” said a spokesperson.

The bank is working with to build out its crypto infrastructure. While Donner & Reuschel has not provided any launch date, it assured that it will start offering the new services as soon as possible. 

The institution is also looking to offer asset tokenization services. Vitt explained that the bank believes in the potential of technology in bringing a major change to finance:

“Blockchain technology will result in the greatest structural change in the financial industry that I have been able to experience so far in my 20-year banking career.”

Institutional adoption of blockchain technology and crypto assets is rapidly taking off. The head of digital assets at major investment bank Goldman Sachs, Matt McDermott, recently said that 40% of the nearly 300 bank’s institutional customers already have exposure to crypto assets. At the same time, he also confirmed that—much like Donner & Reuschel—the bank intends to launch some crypto products.

Citi’s investment banking arm said in a recent report that Bitcoin is at a “tipping point” that could lead either to mainstream acceptance or a “speculative implosion.” Furthermore, in February the United States’ oldest bank, BNY Mellon, said it would not only offer services for digital assets, it added that it would not treat them any differently than stocks and bonds, meaning all of these holdings will be managed through the same infrastructure.