Germany’s State-Owned Bank LBBW Ventures into Crypto Services

Germany’s state-backed federal bank LBBW ventures into crypto custody services with a new partnership.

by Brian Danga. Fact checked by: Ciaran Lawler, Editor: Stefan Trapp

Published: April 15, 2024 │ 1:51 PM GMT

Bitpanda having a chat with two salesmen. — *Created by Gabor Kovacs from DailyCoin*

Germany’s top federal bank made a strategic move.
The bank partnered with an Austrian exchange to offer crypto services.
The development comes as Germans show renewed trust and optimism in digital assets.

Germany’s largest state-backed federal bank, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW), has partnered with Austrian exchange Bitpanda to offer crypto custody services to a select segment of its customers.

Headquartered in Stuttgart, LBBW is a full-service commercial bank for corporate clients and a central bank for savings banks in Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Saxony. The bank’s assets total EUR 238 billion.

LBBW to Offer Crypto Custody Services

According to an announcement on April 15, the partnership will see Bitpanda Technology Solutions provide LBBW with an “Investment-as-a-Service” infrastructure to help the banking giant offer cryptocurrencies to its corporate clients.

Sponsored

The two companies will then develop “the pilot for custody and procurement of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other digital assets” in the coming months, paving the way for LBBW to offer regulated crypto custody services.

LBBW’s COO for Corporate Bank, Dr Jürgen Harengel, lauded the partnership, noting that it came at a time when the bank was experiencing increased demand for digital assets from its corporate customers.

“We are convinced that crypto assets will establish themselves as a building block for further business models. With this cooperation, we are creating the technical and regulatory basis at an early stage to best support the individual crypto strategies of our corporate customers,” Harengel stated.

The partnership comes as investor optimism and confidence in digital assets has returned among Germans, a recent KPMG study shows. Per the report, 54% of the surveyed crypto investors have over 20% of their total assets in crypto, with the most preferred assets being Bitcoin and Ethereum.