The adoption of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has been gaining momentum around the world, and now it seems that Germany is poised to join the growing trend.
The Deutsche WertpapierService Bank AG (dwpbank), which provides securities services to around 1,200 German banks and savings banks, has announced that it is launching a new platform called wpNEX, which will allow all its affiliated banks to offer their customers Bitcoin and other digital assets.
This is a major breakthrough for the adoption of cryptocurrencies in Germany, as it will give more than a thousand banks and savings banks access to the infrastructure necessary to offer their customers crypto services. The first bank to take advantage of this new service is the MLP Banking AG, which plans to offer crypto trading to its retail customers in the second half of this year.
According to Dr. Paul Utzat, the head of account and securities settlement at MLP Banking AG, offering cryptocurrency trading is a natural extension of the bank’s existing asset management services. With the wpNEX platform, customers will be able to seamlessly integrate their crypto holdings into their online banking portal, alongside their traditional securities and savings accounts. There will be no need for pre-funding, and customers will not have to go through an additional verification process when opening a crypto account.
The platform will be supported by Tangany, a BaFin-regulated custody service that will be responsible for storing private keys, and Bankhaus Scheich / tradias, which will handle the execution of orders and price setting. Additionally, the software provider Valantic will also support the platform.
The launch of wpNEX by dwpbank has set the stage for other banks and savings banks in Germany to follow suit. The DZ Bank, which is the central institute for all around 800 Volksbanks in Germany, has already announced plans to offer Bitcoin trading to its customers by the end of the year. However, there is no clear indication yet as to whether Sparkassen, which are the German savings banks, will join in on this trend. Nonetheless, the introduction of wpNEX and the new crypto trading services it enables, puts pressure on other financial institutions to start catering to the growing demand for cryptocurrencies in Germany.
According to Dr. Heiko Beck, the CEO of dwpbank, this is just the beginning, and in the future, the platform will also enable banks to offer other digital assets, such as tokenized securities. With wpNEX, Germany is taking a major step towards becoming a leader in the adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based technologies.
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This article was republished from azcoinnews.com
