DZ Bank, certainly one of Germany's largest banking groups by assets, has secured a license under the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), clearing a key regulatory hurdle for operating crypto services inside the jurisdiction.
DZ Bank announced on Wednesday that it has received approval from Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) to operate its crypto platform “meinKrypto”, which goals to supply crypto trading infrastructure to banks inside the German cooperative banking association. The platform will likely be made available to participating local banks in the approaching months.
Under the model, DZ Bank will act because the central operator of the platform, while individual cooperative banks resolve whether to supply the crypto services to their private customers. Each participating bank must submit a separate MiCA report back to BaFin before releasing crypto trading.
At launch, the offer supports Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Cardano (ADA) and will likely be integrated directly into the VR Banking app as a self-directed investment option.
The MiCA approval marks the execution phase for DZ Bank’s crypto plans
The MiCA license marks the transition from planning to implementation of DZ Bank's crypto strategy after years of regulatory preparation by European financial institutions.
MiCA creates a uniform legal framework for crypto assets and related services across the EU, replacing fragmented national regulations with a single supervisory standard.
DZ Bank’s approval allows it to legally operate crypto infrastructure under the framework. However, retail distribution across the network isn’t mechanically approved.
Banks that wish to supply crypto services to their consumers through the infrastructure must seek the advice of regulators individually before offering crypto trading.
The “meinKrypto” platform was developed jointly by DZ Bank and Atruvia, the IT service provider of the cooperative financial network.
Implementation of previous rollout plans
On September 19, 2024, DZ Bank partnered with Börse Stuttgart Digital to supply crypto trading and custody services to around 700 cooperative banks. The first launch is planned for the top of 2024.
The approval removes significant uncertainties surrounding previous plans and provides a transparent legal basis for the operation of crypto services on a big scale inside the EU.
Even if comprehensive private customer access isn’t immediately possible, the license positions DZ Bank as certainly one of the primary large banking groups to implement MiCA in practice.
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