VPE WertpapierhandelsBank AG (VPE), yesterday, became the first bank in Germany to launch a regulated cryptocurrency trading service. Its “Crypto Trading” service is available exclusively for professional and institutional clients; however, according to a statement on the bank’s website, it is possible for a private client to write to the bank and ask that he/she be treated as a professional client.
VPE, which has a license from Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, BaFin (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht), is a securities trading bank. VPE’s PR manager, Katharina Strenski, made the following comment about the expansion of the bank’s brokerage services:
Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and others have become a promising asset class in recent years. To date, trading digital tokens has been restricted to crypto exchanges and online market places. We are pleased to be the first German bank to offer our customers cryptocurrency trading services.
This new service has been developed in partnership with solarisBank, a Berlin-based fintech startup (with a full German banking license), founded in March 2016, which offers Banking-as-a-Platform (BaaP) services. A custodian service for VPE’s cryptocurrency trading account is provided by solarisBank. Customers will also be getting an individual cryptocurrency wallet that is hosted by VPE.
Although VPE is the first bank in Germany to offer a direct cryptocurrency trading service, it is not first bank in the European Union (EU) to offer such a service. That honor belongs to Liechtenstein’s Bank Frick, which became the first bank in Europe (if not the world) to offer direct investment in five of the leading cryptocurrencies as well as secure safekeeping via “cold storage wallets.” In the announcement on its website, Bank Frick stated that this service would allow “professional market participants” and financial intermediaries” to buy Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP) and Ether (ETH) using euros, US Dollars, or Swiss francs.
VPE’s announcement comes roughly four months after Bloomberg reported that US investment bank Goldman Sachs was exploring the idea of setting up a crypto trading desk, and only a couple of days after we reported that it had hired renowned crypto trader Justin Schmidt to help it run the new business (rumored to go start in June).
