Germany Banking Giant DZ to Pilot Crypto Trading This Year: Bloomberg

DZ Bank, Germany's second-largest bank, plans to roll out a cryptocurrency trading pilot later this year, Bloomberg reported.

Board member Souad Benkredda told Bloomberg the bank, the central institution for some 700 cooperative lenders, wants to list a variety of cryptocurrencies and that the offering will be for customers who can invest "without advice."

“According to a study by the Genoverband, every second bank wants to offer this solution for their customers,” Benkredda said. "Ultimately, each institute makes the decision independently." Genoverband is an auditing and consulting association for more than 2,500 cooperative organizations.

The Frankfurt-based bank, which has $627 billion in assets under management, released a cryptocurrency custody platform in November. The release came months after it announced that it would be using Metaco's technology solution to build crypto-related services.

DZ's foray into bitcoin (BTC) trading comes alongside global adoption of cryptocurrencies among institutions, with the likes of BlackRock and Fidelity having their spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications approved in the U.S. last month, paving the way for billions of dollars worth of trading volume.