For a long time, cryptocurrencies were a thorn in the side of traditional banks. Bitcoin and the like tended to be seen as little more than a toy for tech nerds or risky speculative instruments.
However, that once-dominant view has changed dramatically. More and more major financial institutions worldwide now see digital currencies and blockchain technology as forces that will help shape the future of money. For this reason, banks from New York to Frankfurt to Paris are developing their own solutions to take part in the digital finance market.
Below, we take a closer look at five international banks that stand out in particular. They are investing millions to build crypto infrastructure and trading platforms and to develop their own digital coins.
Institutional investors and high-net-worth private clients are now increasingly demanding crypto services from banks. As no bank wants to lose this lucrative business to specialist providers, many have developed in-house solutions over time.
One advantage is especially compelling: blockchain technology makes cross-border payments faster and cheaper. That is also a clear competitive edge. The new EU MiCA regulation now sets out clear rules of the game as well, reducing risk for banks and their customers.
JPMorgan has already developed its own digital coin and has processed billions through it. In the bond market, Goldman Sachs has tokenised bonds so they can be settled in seconds rather than days. To remain competitive, banks are under pressure to act. Either they join in with integrating cryptocurrencies, or they fall behind in the new digital world of finance. But let’s take a closer look at the individual banks.
As briefly mentioned above, JPMorgan has developed its own digital coin. The bank was one of the first major banks to create its own digital money. How does JPM Coin work? You can think of it as a dollar stablecoin that allows large corporate clients to transfer money around the clock. The benefit: there are no waiting times at weekends or overnight.
The bank uses its in-house platform Onyx, which is based on Quorum/Ethereum. With this development, JPMorgan has shown that blockchain technology is not only of interest to Bitcoin enthusiasts, but can also reshape the traditional corporate banking business. Billions are already being moved via this digital infrastructure.
At Goldman Sachs, traditional financial products such as bonds are already represented on a blockchain. The technical term for this is tokenisation. With the in-house platform GS DAP™ (Digital Assets Platform), a complete bond issuance can be processed in under 60 seconds. In the past, this often took days. The key benefit: it saves a huge amount of time and cost.
Since 2025, this technology has also been accessible to other banks, meaning it is not used only for Goldman’s own business. In doing so, Goldman Sachs shows it is betting on a digital future for the capital markets. It is not just about trading cryptocurrencies, but also about fundamentally modernising how securities are issued and traded. This positions the bank as an infrastructure provider for the entire financial industry.
BNP Paribas plays a leading role in integrating regulated digital assets in Europe. Particularly decisive here is the joint venture AllUnity (with DWS and Flow Traders). Under MiCA regulation, it issues a fully collateralised euro stablecoin.
In addition, BNP Paribas uses the blockchain interoperability of the Canton Network and the previously mentioned Onyx platform from JPMorgan. This enables cross-border payments and tokenisations (e.g. of government bonds) to be processed in real time.
In contrast to isolated solutions, the bank focuses on industrial standards to link digital central bank money (vCBDC) and private bank money. The goal? An efficient, 24/7 available financial infrastructure that meets the highest European security and compliance requirements.
Deutsche Bank has developed its own euro stablecoin backed by an official e-money licence. This licence is important because it subjects the digital money to the same strict rules as electronic money on prepaid cards or digital payment services. Each digital euro is therefore backed by real money that the bank must hold in reserve.
Deutsche Bank did not develop the euro stablecoin quietly behind closed doors, but via the joint venture AllUnity. This joint venture includes Galaxy and Flow Traders. The stablecoin was launched on 31 July 2025.
The aim of Germany’s largest private bank is to take a leading role in the European market for digital payments. Transactions can be processed faster and also outside normal business hours. Deutsche Bank thus combines traditional banking security with modern blockchain technology.
DZ Bank received official BaFin approval for its crypto platform—bearing the rather uncreative name “Kryptoverwahrplattform der DZ Bank”—as early as the end of 2023. This allows it to reach millions of customers of the Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken. In the marketing of the individual local Volksbanken, the name “mein Krypto” is a bit more imaginative. The rollout to the affiliated Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken has been in full swing since 2024/2025.
What can the platform do? Retail customers can trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Cardano directly through it. This means they do not have to switch to external exchanges. That is particularly appealing for the Volksbank customer base, which tends to be less adventurous and places greater trust in its local bank.
By adapting to the digital world of finance, DZ Bank has shown that cooperative banks, with their traditional approach, can also make the leap into the digital age. It also highlights the pressure even more conventional banks face due to rapid developments. Cryptocurrencies could no longer be ignored or demonised, so banks had to offer their customers a safe and regulated way to invest in digital currencies.
For banks’ adoption of cryptocurrencies, the EU MiCA regulation is relevant. It has changed the game and significantly reduced the legal uncertainty that existed until then. Before that, banks never really knew what was permitted and what penalties might be looming.
The MiCA regulation created uniform rules for the entire European market for the first time. What is an advantage for some is a disadvantage for others—especially for more libertarian-leaning crypto providers. They now have to apply for licences, comply with consumer protection standards and undergo regular audits.
All of this sounds like bureaucracy—and it is. But for banks, it is an advantage. They can now offer crypto services without fear of legal issues. In addition, clear rules reduce risk and provide security for both banks and customers.
For the reasons above, specialist platforms remain more cost-efficient for active traders. But if you are a bit more conservative and traditional, and you value integration into your existing portfolio, personal contacts and the highest regulatory certainty under MiCA, you tend not to mind the mark-ups so much. In 2026, the main benefit of banks that have integrated cryptocurrencies is often the “all-in-one” approach. This can significantly reduce the administrative burden when preparing your tax return.
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Although cryptocurrencies are not covered by the statutory deposit guarantee scheme that protects cash balances up to €100,000, investors can still benefit from a high level of protection. How is that possible? Under German law (§ 67 KWG) and the European MiCA regulation, custody-held crypto assets are treated as segregable in the event of a bank insolvency. In other words, they legally belong to the customer and do not form part of the insolvency estate.
Banks hold the assets in highly secure wallets that are subject to equally strict regulatory requirements. Issuer risk from the banks is minimised because they are required to keep client assets strictly separate from their own balance sheet. As an investor, however, you should still pay attention to the custody details (e.g. cold storage vs hot wallet). The reason: protection against hacking depends on the technical implementation used by the bank in question.
It was to be expected that traditional banks often (still) charge higher fees than specialised crypto exchanges. However, the gap is narrowing as large brokers enter the market. Even so, the cost difference remains significant. Crypto exchanges such as Kraken or Bitvavo charge fees of around 0.1 to 0.4 per cent, while traditional branch banks usually charge between 1 and 2.5 per cent per transaction. On top of that, banks often add the spread and, in some cases, annual custody fees. These may be offset by integrated tax services (such as automated reporting under DAC8).
As you might expect, offerings vary widely between institutions. Some banks focus solely on custody. The front-runners (e.g. DZ Bank or Deutsche Bank), however, now enable the direct purchase and sale of blue-chip assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum via familiar online banking. Supported by MiCA regulation, more and more institutions are also daring to offer trading in tokenised assets (digital securities).
Staking services are also growing in importance. However, due to complex tax and legal requirements, these are often handled via specialist partners. The contrast with the past is stark: today, direct coin trading is often available just as readily as crypto certificates (ETPs). There are differences in integration, though. Only with full integration are crypto holdings automatically listed for tax purposes in the annual portfolio statement. As a prospective customer, you should therefore check carefully whether the bank offers a “full-service” solution including tax reporting, or merely provides access to an external marketplace.
