Crypto in Munich

Most people who buy crypto in a German broker app never learn who holds the coins. Often it is Tangany, a Munich custodian that keeps crypto-assets, tokenized securities and stablecoins for banks, trading platforms and fintechs. The partner connects its app through an API and keeps the customer. According to Tangany, it works with more than 60 institutional clients and reaches over 700,000 customers in Germany through them. It holds a BaFin crypto custody license under the German Banking Act and a MiCA license for custody, staking and transfers.

Custody sounds simple and is not. A custodian has to keep client assets apart from its own, run key management that no single employee can misuse, record each movement for the auditor and apply the travel rule to transfers. Banks decide whether to build this in-house or to buy it from a specialist; the crypto custody page compares the two routes.

Munich leads the world in reinsurance, and that reaches into crypto. Munich Re sells a Digital Asset Comprehensive Crime Policy for digital assets held in custody. It covers hacks from outside, fraud or collusion by employees and breaches at external service providers. A second product, DeFi Protect, covers assets that institutions place in approved DeFi protocols against smart contract exploits, governance attacks and oracle failures.

For a Munich asset manager or bank the policy matters in due diligence: before you hand client assets to a custodian or a DeFi protocol, you ask who pays if the keys or the code fail. Search for "Munich Re crypto" and this is what you find, cover for the firms that hold crypto, not a crypto fund.

Bavaria has one of the densest networks of cooperative banks and Sparkassen in Germany, and both groups now sell crypto. DZ BANK received a MiCA authorization from BaFin for meinKrypto, a crypto wallet inside the VR Banking App. Each Volksbank or Raiffeisenbank decides whether its customers get it; at launch it offers bitcoin, ether, litecoin and cardano. Sparkasse customers get crypto products supplied by DekaBank in the Sparkasse app. So the answer to "is there a crypto bank in Munich" is that most Munich customers can already buy crypto at their own bank.

A firm that exchanges, trades or holds crypto for customers needs a license. Under the EU's MiCA regulation a crypto-asset service provider applies to BaFin, and a CASP license is valid in every EU country. A bank that already holds a license may offer crypto services after a notification to BaFin. Crypto ATMs need a license too; the bitcoin in Munich page tells the story of the BaFin raid on unlicensed machines.

The largest crypto and blockchain event in the city is the TUM Blockchain Conference at the House of Communication, held each year by the TUM Blockchain Club, the student club at the Technical University of Munich. Its Digital Assets Day, curated by Bundesblock, is made for financial institutions, corporate leaders and the public sector and covers digital capital markets, stablecoins and payments, and tokenization.

Through the year, W3MUC, which calls itself Munich's web3 hub, and DLT Germany hold meetups and forums in the city. Web3 Network, a network of investors and decision-makers run by a Munich company, organizes the Forum für Digitale Vermögenswerte in Frankfurt for institutional investors, family offices and banks.

Finance Loop started its Munich chapter with an event in the city, first headed by Ilja Geier of Coinbase. It is a network partner of W3MUC and DLT Germany for finance and web3 events in Munich, and Web3 Network is an event and network partner of Finance Loop. DZ BANK and Tangany are event partners as well.

At Finance Loop events, bankers, asset managers and insurers meet the people who build crypto custody, exchanges and DeFi, plus IT and AI engineers from the wider finance sector. Investors who want a structured day on bitcoin can join the Bitcoin for Investors masterclass, which also runs in Munich.

Yes. Buying, holding and selling crypto is legal. Firms that serve customers need a BaFin license under MiCA, and custody also falls under the German Banking Act. Private gains on crypto held for more than a year are tax free under section 23 of the Einkommensteuergesetz.

Yes. The TUM Blockchain Conference takes place in Munich every year, with a Digital Assets Day for banks and the public sector curated by Bundesblock and a hackathon. W3MUC and DLT Germany hold smaller events through the year. Dated events are in the calendar above.

Munich has no crypto exchange of its own, but the city's trading venue gettex lists crypto ETPs, and exchanges licensed under MiCA serve Munich customers from other EU countries. Munich firms such as Tangany run the custody behind many broker apps. A list of the main venues is on the page on the largest crypto exchanges in Germany.

It protects firms that hold digital assets for others. The crime policy pays for losses from hacks, insider fraud and breaches at service providers, and DeFi Protect covers institutional funds in approved DeFi protocols against code exploits and oracle failures. Private wallets are not covered.