Sparkassen, one of Germany’s largest financial groups, is preparing to offer cryptocurrency trading to its individual clients.
Sparkassen, which had previously kept its distance from this area, is thus following in the footsteps of the genossenschaftliche banks (cooperative banks) Volksbank and Raiffeisenbanken. The cooperative banks plan to launch crypto services for individual customers this summer.
“The Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe will provide reliable access to a regulated cryptocurrency offering,” the Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband (DSGV) said in a statement on Monday. Accordingly, individual users who make their own investment decisions will be able to access the cryptocurrency platform offered by Sparkassen’s investment institution DekaBank via the Sparkassen app.
Sparkassen’s decision is driven by growing customer demand and the coming into force of the European Union’s new crypto regulation, MiCAR. The service is planned to be developed within a year, and customers will likely be able to start trading cryptocurrencies in the summer of 2026, a DekaBank spokesperson told Bloomberg.
About three years ago, the Sparkassen group had made a decision not to offer cryptocurrency trading to its clients. However, recently, the industry has been changing its approach. “We should offer clients the possibility of trading cryptocurrencies through Sparkassen,” Sparkassen Bayern Chairman Matthias Dießl told Bloomberg in an interview in April.
Meanwhile, Volks- and Raiffeisenbanken, acting under the leadership of DZ Bank, have developed a special crypto trading infrastructure for cooperative banks in Germany in cooperation with IT service provider Atruvia and the Stuttgart Stock Exchange, and this service is planned to be launched soon.
Although Sparkassen is preparing to enter the crypto space, it remains cautious. “Our position is clear: Cryptocurrencies are highly speculative assets,” DSGV said.
*This is not investment advice.
