Author: Zen, PANews
As the transitional arrangements for MiCA draw to a close, the European crypto industry has undergone a major institutional screening. Once MiCA is fully enforced, platforms that previously relied on national registration in individual member states, regulatory gaps, or transitional arrangements to serve European users must now comply with the EU’s unified framework and obtain a Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) authorization to continue operating legally.
According to the Financial Times, as of July 1, only about 12% of crypto companies in the EU were approved to continue operating under the new rules, with 244 authorized institutions. Platforms that failed to complete authorization in time were required to cease their crypto asset services and exit the main stage of Europe’s compliant market.
On this new regulatory table, Germany’s position stands out prominently. Germany currently has 57 MiCA-authorized crypto asset service providers, accounting for approximately 23% of the EU’s 244 total authorizations, significantly leading other EU member states. Since MiCA allows licensed entities to offer services cross-border within the EU, Germany is not only one of the member states with the highest number of authorizations but is also emerging as a key compliance gateway for crypto platforms seeking access to the single European market.
Moreover, Germany is not only a market leading in the number of licensed entities; it is more like a convergence point in Europe’s cryptographic financial relayering, moving from a regulatory entry point toward bank distribution channels and digital financial infrastructure participants.
Functional regulation enables a smooth transition for MiCA.
Before the implementation of the EU’s unified framework, Germany had already integrated the issuance, trading, brokerage, custody, and market ordering of crypto-assets into distinct regulatory regimes for banks, securities, payments, and capital markets. Precisely because of this function-based regulatory foundation, when MiCA consolidated fragmented rules into a unified EU framework, Germany was able to quickly adopt the new regulations and extend its existing domestic compliance pathways across Europe.
Even before MiCA was officially implemented, Germany already had multiple cryptocurrency trading access points targeting retail users and institutional clients. These early platforms were not entirely outside regulatory oversight but were integrated into Germany’s existing financial services system through licensed banks and agent structures.
For example, Bitcoin.de, one of Germany’s earliest Bitcoin trading platforms, operated through its entity Bitcoin Deutschland AG, which conducted related investment brokerage services as a “restricted agent” of Fidor Bank. This is a regulatory structure in Germany that allows entities to operate through a licensed bank: the agent may be an independent company or individual but is permitted to conduct only specific business on behalf of a single licensed financial institution. In this arrangement, Fidor Bank, as a licensed German bank, serves as the responsible party and assumes the corresponding regulatory obligations.
Unlike the “embedded” compliance path, the Stuttgart Exchange Group, a German securities exchange operator, has chosen to directly enter the market, aiming to integrate cryptocurrency trading into its own exchange, brokerage, and custody systems. In 2019, the group launched BISON, a crypto trading app for retail users offering a straightforward buying and selling interface. Later that same year, it introduced BSDEX, Germany’s first regulated digital asset trading platform, which employs an order book and fixed trading rules designed for more sophisticated investors.
In addition to local platforms, Germany’s regulatory framework also attracts international platforms, with Coinbase Germany being a prime example. In 2021, Coinbase Germany received licensing from BaFin for crypto custody and trading services. BaFin, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, oversees regulation of banks, securities, insurance, and certain crypto financial services. This license falls under Germany’s new crypto regulatory framework introduced in 2020, which covers crypto custody and trading.
These cases collectively illustrate that, prior to the implementation of MiCA, German regulators focused on dissecting and evaluating platform business models under various traditional German financial laws, including the German Banking Act, the German Securities Trading Act, and the payment services regulatory framework. BaFin’s early guidance on token classification also reflects this functional regulatory approach, emphasizing that whether a token constitutes a financial instrument, security, capital investment, or fund share must be determined on a case-by-case basis according to its specific structure and economic function.
Therefore, although Germany’s regulatory framework is not yet fully mature or comprehensive, it has already “trained” a number of institutions in customer due diligence, organizational governance, risk control, and regulatory reporting by integrating key crypto platform operations into the traditional financial legal system. It may not be the most lenient market, but it offers clearer regulatory pathways, more developed financial infrastructure, and more predictable regulatory experience. For new platforms seeking to enter the European market, this is precisely what makes Germany attractive.
Banks become the direct gateway to cryptocurrency services in Germany.
In the global crypto market, traditional banking systems in many countries often distance themselves from or even oppose the crypto industry. However, in the development of Germany’s crypto market, banks are not only participants in the compliance chain but also serve as gateways for users to access crypto assets.
In the early days, Fidor Bank participated in the compliance structure of local platforms through its partnership with Bitcoin.de; subsequently, as the regulatory framework became clearer, traditional financial institutions such as Commerzbank and DekaBank have gradually expanded into crypto custody, trading, and institutional services.
It was already becoming clear that the role of banks was shifting from behind the scenes to the forefront. The implementation of MiCA has further accelerated this transformation, enabling crypto services to more rapidly integrate into banks’ own retail channels and become direct access points for ordinary users.
A prime example is DZ Bank, the central bank of Germany’s cooperative financial system and the second-largest bank in Germany by assets. In January 2026, DZ Bank announced it received BaFin’s MiCAR authorization to launch its crypto asset service, “meinKrypto.”
This product is designed as a wallet and transaction gateway integrated into the VR Banking App, targeting self-directed clients rather than as part of private banking investment advice. After completing their MiCAR notification and launching the relevant features, cooperative banks can enable their customers to invest in crypto assets through their familiar banking app.
Another pathway comes from the German Sparkassen savings bank system. Sparkassen form a financial network of public savings banks across Germany, covering a large number of local bank branches and individual customers. As a key securities services and asset management institution within this system, DekaBank is often referred to as the “brokerage firm” or capital markets platform of the Sparkassen system.
According to public plans, the German savings bank system will offer private customers access to cryptocurrency trading services, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, through the DekaBank platform via its mobile banking app, with a target launch date in summer 2026.
The significance of this change lies in the shift in how crypto services are distributed. For everyday users, crypto assets are no longer just high-risk products on external exchanges, but are now integrated into banking apps, customer accounts, and existing compliance processes.
From Trading Hub to European Digital Asset Infrastructure Hub
If a trading platform license addresses “who can legally provide crypto services,” and a bank app addresses “where ordinary users access crypto assets,” then a deeper question is: who will issue, custody, and settle future on-chain assets, and through what payment and settlement tools will they enter the capital markets? Germany’s crypto strategy is now extending beyond trading and retail access to these foundational financial infrastructures.
Deutsche Börse Group is Germany’s core exchange and market infrastructure group, offering services across trading, clearing, data and indices, investment management solutions, and post-trade services. Clearstream, one of its subsidiaries, operates within the post-trade segment and is primarily responsible for settlement, custody, and asset services following securities transactions—ensuring that trades are successfully completed and asset rights are continuously managed through its back-office infrastructure.
In June 2026, Clearstream announced the launch of its next-generation digital securities infrastructure, with a phased rollout planned for 2026 to 2027. According to its announcement, the platform will cover the entire securities lifecycle—including issuance, distribution, settlement, custody, asset servicing, liquidity, and financing—for both traditional and tokenized securities, serving assets under the MiFID and MiCA frameworks. Clearstream also stated that the platform will enable institutional clients to access blockchain technology, crypto assets, stablecoins, and security tokens, and will explore use cases such as on-chain settlement, large-scale tokenization of securities, and collateral reuse across multiple transactions for the same asset.
For market infrastructure providers such as Deutsche Börse and Clearstream, tokenized securities, stablecoins, and crypto assets are being integrated into broader upgrades of capital market infrastructure. If these infrastructures gain regulatory approval and are widely adopted by institutional clients, German institutions will be positioned more favorably in the European digital assets market.
In addition, the euro stablecoin is part of the same initiative. Qivalis, a euro stablecoin project backed by European banks and headquartered in Amsterdam, aims to address the dominance of U.S. companies in digital payments and prepare for the future tokenization of assets. Founding members of Qivalis include major European banks such as DekaBank, DZ BANK, ING, BNP Paribas, BBVA, and UniCredit, with plans to launch a regulated euro stablecoin in the second half of 2026 following regulatory approval.
For Germany, the significance of this project lies not in Germany independently leading the euro stablecoin, but in the fact that the German banking system has now joined the collective effort to build Europe’s digital payments and tokenized finance infrastructure. DekaBank’s connection to the German savings bank network and DZ Bank’s connection to the cooperative banking network, both participating in Qivalis, demonstrate that Germany’s crypto strategy has extended to foundational financial infrastructure—including euro stablecoins, on-chain payments, and future settlement of tokenized assets.
The future competition in Europe’s crypto industry will increasingly focus on licensing, banking partnerships, custody, settlement, tax transparency, and cross-border service capabilities—and Germany is uniquely positioned at the intersection of all these strengths.