Commerzbank crypto: custody and trading for companies

In November 2023 Commerzbank became the first German universal bank with a crypto custody license under the German Banking Act, as its press release with Crypto Finance states. On September 19, 2024 the bank opened bitcoin and ether to selected existing corporate clients in Germany. The work is split: Commerzbank keeps the coins, and Crypto Finance (Deutschland) GmbH, a subsidiary of Deutsche Börse, runs the trading.

A client opens two accounts, a crypto asset account at Commerzbank and a trading account at Crypto Finance. The Commerzbank crypto custody page sets a minimum of 500,000 euros per client, which may be built up within twelve months, and limits the offer to clients of its Corporate Clients segment domiciled in Germany. Crypto Finance offers agency trading and 24/7 principal trading with order types such as RFQ, limit and stop loss.

Commerzbank holds client coins on its own infrastructure and does not pass them on to third parties. Key material sits in multi-party computation (MPC) and hardware security modules, assets are kept in cold storage, and the holdings of each client are segregated from those of every other client.

Commerzbank built its custody itself. Other German banks buy the service from a specialist: LBBW works with Bitpanda, and the Volksbanken use Boerse Stuttgart Digital through DZ BANK. The page on crypto as a service compares the two routes, and crypto custody in Germany explains the license.

Commerzbank keeps crypto out of its advisory business. In a Handelsblatt interview (in German), Thomas Schaufler, the board member for private and small business customers, said that crypto suits self-directed investors, who typically bank with comdirect. He could not imagine recommending a bitcoin purchase, because crypto prices do not rest on fundamental data, and he expected a crypto offer at comdirect by 2026 at the latest. comdirect has sold certificates with crypto underlyings since 2017.

The rest of the German market follows the same split between advice and self-directed trading. The Volksbanken offer meinKrypto to self-directed customers only, and the Sparkassen plan an offer without advice. The overview of banks offering crypto lists the others.

Commerzbank spoke on the panel about payments in DLT-based markets at the Frankfurt Forum on Digital Assets & Applications, organized by d-fine and announced on Finance Loop's blog, next to Deutsche Bundesbank, Deutsche Bank, DZ Bank and AllUnity. The panel dealt with the use of different forms of money for settlement on a ledger, the subject of the pages on tokenized deposits and wholesale CBDC.

For corporate clients, yes. Selected existing corporate clients in Germany can buy and hold bitcoin and ether, with custody at Commerzbank and trading at Crypto Finance. For private customers, the group plans the offer at comdirect.

Yes. Commerzbank received it in November 2023 under the German Banking Act, the first German universal bank to do so. The page on crypto custody in Germany explains how such a license relates to MiCA.

500,000 euros per client, according to the bank's product page. A client may reach that amount within twelve months of opening the crypto asset account.