German financial leader Deutsche Bank is officially throwing its hat into the digital assets sector. The company announced that it has entered a partnership with the Swiss cryptocurrency safekeeping startup Taurus in order to start offering digital asset custody and tokenization services to its clients.
What the Bank Has in Mind
According to Paul Maley, global head of securities services at Deutsche Bank, his company’s plan is to create and deploy numerous digital asset custody services covering a diverse range of digital asset categories for both corporate and institutional clients.
To start things off, Deutsche Bank will offer custody for several cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. It expects much of the first wave of activity to revolve around these specific assets, though it also eyes possibilities where tokenized financial assets are concerned.
From Client to Investor
The involvement of the two firms actually started back in February of this year when Deutsche Bank joined a $65 million Series B funding round for Taurus led by Credit Suisse. This came after the bank conducted due diligence about possible crypto custody firms it could work with for the better part of the past two years.
According to Lamine Brahimi, one of Taurus’ co-founders, Deutsche Bank became one of their clients earlier this year and later opted to invest in the company. In any case, the partnership will focus on cryptocurrencies and the bank will have the ability to offer digital asset services and tokenize assets when it chooses.
Compliance
Back in June of this year, Deutsche Bank announced that it applied with Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) for a crypto custody license, but the company’s plans to enter the crypto sector go as far back as 2021. A report published by the World Economic Forum earlier that year gave the company the impetus to consider digital asset management.
