Germany’s Sparkassen Banks Start Retail Crypto Trading Rollout

Germany’s Sparkassen savings-bank network began a phased crypto trading rollout in its banking app on Oct. 19, opening direct access to digital assets for retail customers at participating banks.

The service initially offers Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Solana (SOL), XRP and Polygon (POL). Each savings bank decides whether to activate it, so availability depends on the customer’s bank. Customers open a separate crypto account in the Sparkasse app and place trades without investment advice.

DekaBank, the Sparkassen network’s securities provider, operates the service and holds customers’ crypto centrally. Transfers are restricted to wallet addresses of certain crypto-asset service providers. Crypto holdings are not covered by statutory deposit insurance, a distinction from bank deposits.

The rollout serves retail customers and is separate from DekaBank’s institutional crypto trading infrastructure, which dates to 2024. The German Savings Banks and Giro Association expects 30 to 40 additional banks to join the rollout each month.