German bank lets clients buy Bitcoin from checking accounts

The German Savings Bank program allows customers to invest in major digital currencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) directly from a checking account.

According to a report by the local business magazine Capital on December 13, the savings bank in German-speaking countries will launch a pilot project to release an internal crypto exchange and wallet in 2022. 

The pilot project needs to be approved by the Sparkasse committee early next year, and the Banking Association’s goal is to develop related services in early 2022.

The representative added that a team of experts from the German IT service provider S-Payment is now exploring ways to provide selected customers with the option of safely storing encrypted assets in their wallets.

The corresponding pilot project should start with a personal savings bank, and each of the 370 Sparkassen independently decides whether to introduce encrypted transactions. Recently, lots of banks have expressed an interest in crypto exchange platforms.

Sparkassen is a commercial bank that operates savings banks in a decentralized structure in German-speaking countries, and each bank operates independently. According to reports, these savings banks have approximately 50 million customers and total assets of 1 trillion euros.

Germany has won the status of one of the most crypto-friendly countries globally. Earlier this year, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority issued a cryptocurrency custody business license to Coinbase’s German branch. Also, German stock market operator Deutsche Börse has listed more than 20 cryptocurrency exchange trading products on its digital exchange Xetra.