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Secret crypto project
Savings banks want to enable their customers to trade Bitcoin
The savings banks have around 50 million customers
© Julian Stratenschulte / DPA / Picture Alliance
Ironically, the good old savings banks want to get involved in crypto trading. According to capital research, the financial institutions are preparing a service with which their customers could trade Bitcoin as early as 2022.
The German savings banks are working on a crypto project that will enable them to trade digital currencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum in the future. A dedicated team at the IT service provider S-Payment is preparing the concept. This is reported by the business magazine Capital, “Finanz-Szene” and “Finance Forward”. At the beginning of 2022, the Sparkasse committees still have to vote on the project. If there is the green light, a first version of the so-called wallet could be launched later this year.
The hitherto secret project would be a bang for the European banking landscape. With around 50 million customers, the savings banks are the market leaders among German financial institutions. Entering the market would allow the target group that can trade crypto currencies in this country to suddenly grow enormously. So far, other large banks have not dared to tackle the issue.
Buying crypto via checking account
According to the plans, Sparkasse customers could buy the crypto currencies directly via their checking accounts. An advantage over the top dog Coinbase from the USA, where new customers first have to identify themselves. In addition, the savings banks want to play their trust as a brand.
A corresponding pilot project is likely to start first with individual savings banks. In the end, each of the around 370 institutes independently decides whether to introduce crypto trading or not. This is a consequence of the regional principle of the savings banks. However, it was said that the banks were already showing interest. The German Savings Banks and Giro Association did not want to comment on the plans when asked.
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While in the past it was mainly special services that offered crypto trading, established payment service providers such as PayPal or securities brokers have also entered the market for some time. With the savings banks, a traditional player is now venturing into the new investment.
The prices of cryptocurrencies have recently risen sharply: if the value of a bitcoin was around 24,000 euros at the beginning of 2021, it doubled over the course of the year. At the beginning of December, however, the price collapsed again and has since lost around 30 percent. The prices continue to fluctuate strongly.