Germany’s DZ Bank set to pilot crypto trading, hit or miss?
Germany’s second-largest bank, DZ Bank, is a step closer to its goal of offering direct cryptocurrency trading to its private customers. Disclosing plans to introduce a crypto trading pilot later this year. This bank has been serving as the central institution for around 700 cooperative lenders and aims to cater to the growing demand for crypto trading among its customer base.
DZ’s Crypto trading pilot plans
Souad Benkredda, a member of DZ Bank’s executive board overseeing capital market operations, shared insights in an interview with Bloomberg News, “Throughout the year, we will move into the pilot phase for individual trading of cryptocurrencies with the first cooperative banks,” stated Benkredda. Implying that primary banks associated with DZ will test Bitcoin trading options with their customers. “A study by Genoverband stated that every second bank is considering offering crypto solutions to their customers,” Benkredda added.
Benkredda stressed that each bank can decide on its own about dealing with cryptocurrencies. Genoverband is a group of experts for over 2,500 cooperative organizations that have influenced this shift towards using crypto in banking. DZ Bank, based in Frankfurt with $627 billion in assets, started dealing with crypto by launching a safe storage platform in November. They chose Metaco’s tech for crypto services.
Will they proceed with the services?
Talking about the pilot phase, Benkredda mentioned it’s a testing time to find and fix issues early, making the service better for more users. The success of this phase will decide if the bank will offer crypto trading to more people. DZ Bank joining Bitcoin trading is part of a global trend where big institutions are getting into cryptocurrencies. Recently, the U.S. approved exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for BlackRock and Fidelity, showing that more traditional institutions are accepting digital assets.
Just like BlackRock and Fidelity, DZ Bank’s move shows that regular banks are adapting to the changing world of digital currencies. The pilot phase is like a practice stage for DZ Bank. Where they test things out and see how well they can offer crypto trading. As they go through the pilot phase, DZ Bank wants to make their crypto trading services better.
