German Central Cooperative Bank launches digital asset custody platform.

BlockBeats reported on November 6th that DZ BANK, the largest custodian institution in Germany with assets of over 300 billion euros, has launched a new digital asset settlement and custody platform, becoming one of the first banks in Germany to offer such blockchain-based services to institutional clients. DZ BANK has been researching blockchain technology for many years and began building a digital custody platform for institutional clients in 2022. Initially, the platform will custody encrypted securities, including a Siemens encrypted bond that was subscribed by Union Investment and DZ BANK six months ago and is now being transferred to its own custody. In addition, DZ BANK previously participated as a settlement and custodian for the first external trading of Metzler Bank's encrypted fund shares. As both cases fall under the Electronic Securities Act (eWpG), existing licenses are already available for custody. DZ BANK applied for an encrypted asset custody license from the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) in Germany in June this year in order to provide investment services in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin to institutional clients in the future. At the same time, the bank is also developing products for individual clients to invest in cryptocurrencies directly. The existing infrastructure also enables DZ BANK to actively participate in the exploratory phase of the European Central Bank (ECB), testing the operation of large-scale capital market transaction settlements in central bank currencies.