Deutsche Bank goes live with digital asset custody service, signs asset management deal

Deutsche Bank announced the launch of its Digital Asset Custody (DAC) service on Wednesday, alongside a new agreement with Deutsche Asset Management to explore the development of tokenized financial products.

Deutsche Bank first announced plans to offer custody for bitcoin Bitcoin (BTC), ether Ethereum (ETH), USDC, EURC, and EURAU to corporate and institutional customers across Europe in September, pending regulatory approval. The service is now live, enabling customers to hold the assets with Deutsche Bank, which manages their wallets and private keys, and make transfers to other parties.

The bank previously partnered with Taurus in 2023 to develop digital asset custody and tokenization services, while Bitpanda was also reported to be involved in the project. Deutsche Bank's custody system has warm and cold storage, hardware-based protection for private keys, and transaction approvals involving multiple people.

"In the medium term we aim to deliver a fully integrated, regulated ecosystem that supports the custody, tokenization, and settlement of digital assets," Paul Maley, the bank's global head of trust and securities services, said in Wednesday's announcement.

New agreement with Deutsche Asset Management

Deutsche Bank and Deutsche Asset Management signed a memorandum of understanding covering tokenized money market funds, crypto-asset exchange-traded commodities (ETCs), and stablecoins. The firms will look at custody and settlement arrangements, as well as liquidity management, treasury, and distribution, using Deutsche Bank's DAC platform. Manfred Bauer, chief product officer at Deutsche Asset Management, said the firm was planning to launch a tokenized money market fund.

Deutsche Asset Management already offers crypto-asset ETCs and is involved in AllUnity, the stablecoin venture backed by DWS, Flow Traders, and Galaxy. In May, The Block reported that AllUnity planned to introduce a Swedish krona-backed stablecoin, SEKAU, alongside its existing euro- and Swiss franc-denominated tokens.

Deutsche Asset Management said it had €1.22 trillion ($1.36 trillion) in assets under management as of Sept. 30.