Germany’s DZ Bank received regulatory approval to introduce ‘meinKrypto’, a digital asset trading platform for retail clients.
The platform is integrated into the VR Banking App and offers trading in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, ether, litecoin and cardano.
Over 71% of cooperative banks in Germany are interested in providing crypto services to private customers, indicating a growing trend in the sector.
Germany’s DZ Bank revealed it received regulatory approval from BaFin under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, enabling it to offer meinKrypto, a digital asset trading platform targeted at retail clients through the cooperative banking system.
The license, granted in late December, marks a shift for the Frankfurt-based lender. While DZ Bank partnered with Boerse Stuttgart Digital in 2024 to offer crypto services to institutional clients, the new platform paves the way for retail adoption via the Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken.
DZ Bank created meinKrypto for the primary institutions of the cooperative financial group, and it will be available to these institutions shortly. Cooperative banks must now apply to BaFin for MiCAR notification for meinKrypto, a wallet integrated into the VR Banking app.
Once they receive the notification and have implemented the service, their customers will be able to invest in cryptocurrencies entirely digitally.