Deutsche Bank Preps German Crypto Custody Launch, Eyes Asia Expansion

A top-tier European bank moving into regulated custody matters less for the crypto it holds than for the precedent it sets: custody is the low-risk entry point that lets a large lender build digital-asset infrastructure without balance-sheet exposure. The German launch is the concrete step; the Asia ambition is the more telling one, since it signals an expectation that institutional demand will be regional rather than concentrated in Europe. The open questions are timing and whether the targeted Asian jurisdictions offer the licensing clarity such a bank would require.