Update Sept. 20, 07:40 am UTC: This article has been updated with commentary from the Boerse Stuttgart Group.

Germany’s second-largest financial institution, DZ Bank, has partnered with Boerse Stuttgart Digital to provide customers with cryptocurrency trading and custody services to its cooperative bank network.

The collaboration will enable approximately 700 cooperative banks under DZ Bank’s umbrella to provide retail customers with an option to access digital assets like Bitcoin ( BTC ) and Ether ( ETH ).

The regulated platform’s move is part of a phased roll-out plan to begin later this year, initially enabling select retail clients to test the new crypto trading offering.

In a Q&A with Cointelegraph, a spokesperson from Boerse Stuttgart Group revealed plans to establish a regulated exchange, BX Digital, in Switzerland, specifically for tokenized securities.

“Boerse Stuttgart Group is seeking to cooperate with further financial institutions in Germany and Europe, including large institutions. The focus here is on institutional offerings providing access to secure and easy trading of cryptocurrencies as well as digital assets for retail clients.”

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Phased roll-out details

The operational and technical elements of the new service provisions are already underway, and the first banks are planned to be connected by the end of 2024.

During the first phase, a small group of retail clients will participate in the crypto trading service to test whether it launches smoothly across the cooperative banking network.

Based on the results of the selected retail clients, the full implementation of the new service is expected to follow the initial testing phase.

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Boerse Stuttgart’s involvement

Boerse Stuttgart’s role in the announcement centers around providing regulatory infrastructure and technical elements of DZ Bank’s new crypto services.

Specifically, Boerse Stuttgart Digital, the crypto division of the Boerse Stuttgart Group, is facilitating DZ Bank’s crypto trading and custody solutions to the cooperative bank network.

In a press release shared with Cointelegraph, Matthias Voelkel, CEO of Boerse Stuttgart Group, stated that the bank’s crypto division offers “retail-customer-oriented” infrastructure solutions.

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German banks go crypto

Germany’s largest federal bank, the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, announced on April 15 that it would begin offering crypto custody solutions in the second half of 2024.

The bank said it would start offering its crypto services to institutional clients in partnership with Bitpanda, an Austria-based crypto exchange.

The partnership with Bitpanda enables the German federal bank to utilize the crypto exchange’s platform, custody services, and relevant licenses required for regulatory compliance.

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