EXPERT KEY

In Germany, crypto custody became a licensed financial service under the Kreditwesengesetz before the EU rules arrived. Under MiCA in Germany, a bank or savings bank that already holds a license can offer crypto services after a notification to BaFin under Article 60, filed at least 40 working days before the first service. Banks can therefore provide crypto custody, and many already do: customers of some Sparkassen trade bitcoin in the Sparkasse app under "Krypto powered by Deka", and DZ BANK runs meinKrypto for the Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken.

Once a bank sells crypto, its advisors, compliance officers and back office need to explain the product, check it and book it. Crypto custody for banks in Germany is explained in the crypto custody hub answer, and the licensing rules in the MiCA regulation answer. Blockchain training for banks in Germany starts with these two questions: what the bank may offer, and what its staff must know before a customer asks.

EXPERT KEY is a brand of C2D GmbH. Daniel Stahl, co-founder of C2D, lectures on digitalization strategies in financial services at the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University. In an article on Der Bank Blog (in German), he explains why banks should not ignore Web3 and bitcoin: he compares the moment to the years when PayPal took online payments while banks watched, and he writes that the new technologies require banks to rethink their structure and culture.

The same article names two savings banks. Stadtsparkasse München held a Web3 workshop with EXPERT KEY for its whole management circle, and Sparkasse Markgräflerland built a digital twin of its new building in the virtual world with support from EXPERT KEY.

Web3 is the name for internet services built on blockchains, where users hold money, securities and data in a wallet of their own, and a program on the blockchain, a smart contract, carries out the deal. Banking applications of Web3 and blockchain include tokenized bonds and shares under the German eWpG, stablecoins under MiCA, bitcoin for clients in a custody account, and smart contracts that settle a trade.

Banks currently use blockchain mostly in custody, in trading of crypto for private clients, and in pilot issues of tokenized securities. The web3 hub answer and the smart contracts answer explain the terms, and tokenization in Germany lists the laws and the first issues.

EXPERT KEY is a knowledge partner of Finance Loop and stands among its event and network partners. EXPERT KEY supports the network with educational content on blockchain. EXPERT KEY was one of the supporters of TechClub 25/3, the fintech and crypto afterwork party at TechQuartier in Frankfurt on 25 March 2025.

Yes, EXPERT KEY runs web3 courses and workshops for banks, savings banks and companies, on site or remote, in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Finance Loop lists blockchain workshops and trainings in its academy.

The EXPERT KEY program names blockchain and decentralized solutions, NFTs, smart contracts, cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, DeFi and regenerative finance. For a bank, a web3 workshop usually adds the rules: MiCA, crypto custody under German law, and money laundering checks for crypto transfers.

Yes, a bank that holds a license under the Kreditwesengesetz can offer crypto custody after it notifies BaFin under Article 60 of MiCA. Crypto custody banks in Germany include DZ BANK for the cooperative banks and DekaBank for the Sparkassen.