Deutsche Bank ties up with Bitpanda in ‘cautious’ crypto shift

Deutsche Bank will collaborate with Bitpanda to handle customer deposits and withdrawals for the Austrian crypto broker, according to statements made by the companies to Reuters.

Historically, the crypto industry has faced challenges in securing banking partners, particularly after the collapse of Silvergate Capital Corp, Signature Bank, and Silicon Valley Bank in 2023, all of which had a significant number of crypto-related clients.

In a recent development indicating the crypto industry’s integration into mainstream finance, Deutsche Bank will provide Bitpanda users in Germany with local bank account numbers. This arrangement ensures that deposits and withdrawals of fiat currencies through Bitpanda will be processed via Germany’s largest bank. Many banks still restrict customers from transferring funds to crypto exchanges.

Vienna-based Bitpanda, established in 2014, claims over 4 million users and offers a range of products including fractional stocks, cryptocurrencies, and precious metals.

Regulators have expressed concerns about the potential impact of crypto market volatility on mainstream finance as the two sectors become more interconnected, although analysts believe their integration is still limited.

Ole Matthiessen, Deutsche Bank’s global head of cash management, stated that the bank has adopted a “very cautious” approach. “We only work with very selective partners and clients who demonstrate strong compliance processes, operate in a regulated environment, and meet our heightened expectations from a risk perspective,” Matthiessen said in an email.

Deutsche Bank will not be involved in the transfer of cryptocurrencies through the Bitpanda agreement. Instead, it will facilitate the transfer of fiat currencies in and out of clients’ portfolios and support Bitpanda’s treasury and payment processes, Matthiessen explained.

Kilian Thalhammer, Deutsche Bank’s global head of merchant solutions, expressed the bank’s ambition to become “the bank of choice for the high-potential platforms” in virtual asset investing.

A Deutsche Bank spokesperson noted that the bank has a similar partnership with the Hong Kong-based crypto exchange Hashkey, but Bitpanda is its first such client in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region.

Bitpanda is already a corporate client of Deutsche Bank in Austria and Spain, though these operations are not customer-facing, a spokesperson for the broker clarified.

(This story has been updated to clarify that Bitpanda is a broker, not an exchange, in paragraphs 1 and 12.)