Deutsche Bank has begun offering digital asset custody to institutional and corporate clients in Europe, with Bitcoin among the first assets supported, as of November 11th.

The launch follows a September 16th announcement in which the bank said it planned to bring the service live before the end of the year, pending regulatory clearance.

At launch, the service supports Bitcoin, along with the USDC, EURC, and EURAU stablecoins.

Deutsche Bank manages wallets and private keys on behalf of clients, so they do not need to build their own custody infrastructure.

Clients can hold assets and transfer them to third parties through the bank's Autobahn gateway and Corporate Bank Portal.

The bank outlined security controls that include hardware-based key protection, multi-person approvals, separate warm and cold storage, and segregated client assets.

Selected external technology providers handle defined technical components of the service.

The bank has worked with Swiss digital asset infrastructure firm Taurus on custody and tokenization technology since 2023.

The initial client base covers corporates, asset managers, hedge funds, custodians, brokers, and sovereign institutions served by the bank's Corporate Bank and Investment Bank. Retail customers are not included.

Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) authorized the bank for custody and transfer services effective October 12th, according to the ESMA MiCA register.

The authorization does not extend to trading or exchange services.

Corporate Bank Co-Head Gerald Podobnik described digital assets as "not a replacement for the traditional financial system but an important complement to it."

The bank noted that the range of supported assets may grow based on client demand and its risk and approval processes, with tokenized financial instruments also on the roadmap.

Deutsche Bank has also outlined plans to take the custody business to major Asian financial centers in 2027, alongside services such as tokenized deposits and support for digital bond issuance.