Denmark’s Danske Bank allows clients to buy Bitcoin and Ether ETPs

Danske Bank, the largest slope successful Denmark and a large retail slope successful Northern Europe with implicit 5 cardinal customers, is allowing clients to bargain Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded products (ETPs) from BlackRock and WisdomTree via its eBanking and Mobile Banking platforms for the archetypal time. 

The caller offering, announced Wednesday, is unfastened to self-directed investors lone — customers who commercialized connected the bank’s level without receiving concern proposal — and is explicitly framed arsenic a effect to “increasing lawsuit demand” and “improved regulation” successful the aftermath of the European Union’s Markets successful Crypto Assets (MiCA) regime.

The slope said customers tin initially bargain 3 “carefully selected” ETPs, 2 tracking Bitcoin (BTC) and 1 tracking Ether (ETH), offered by BlackRock and WisdomTree and covered by Markets successful Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID) rules connected capitalist extortion and outgo transparency, which the slope says supply wide advantages implicit holding coins directly, including easiness of trading and unafraid custody.

Danske Bank pivots. Source: Danske Bank

​Kerstin Lysholm, caput of concern products and offerings astatine Danske Bank, said successful the merchandise that, arsenic cryptocurrencies person go much communal arsenic an plus class, the slope was receiving an “increasing fig of enquiries from customers wanting the enactment of investing successful cryptocurrencies arsenic portion of their concern portfolio.” 

She added that regularisation had “generally accrued assurance successful cryptocurrencies” and led the slope to reason “the clip is ripe” to marque specified products disposable to clients who judge the “very precocious risks” involved.

Related: UBS weighing crypto trading for backstage banking clients: Report

From level prohibition to tightly controlled access

The displacement comes aft years of caution toward integer assets. In 2018, Danske Bank said it was antagonistic toward cryptocurrencies and barred trading successful them and related instruments connected its ain platforms, informing customers against investing owed to transparency, regulatory, volatility and fiscal transgression concerns.

In 2021, Danske updated its argumentation successful a four-point notice, stating that it wouldn’t connection immoderate cryptocurrency services to its customers itself, but that it would not interfere with transactions coming from crypto platforms.

Lysholm said Danske inactive viewed crypto arsenic “opportunistic investments” alternatively than portion of a semipermanent portfolio strategy, and said that entree to ETPs “should not beryllium seen arsenic a proposal of the plus class.”

The merchandise says that cryptocurrency investments “involve a precise precocious risk” and tin effect successful ample losses, and it is gathering a suitability cheque into the flow. Before trading, customers indispensable reply questions to guarantee they person capable acquisition and cognition to recognize the risks and characteristics of crypto ETPs. 

Broader European trend

Other European lenders are besides edging into regulated crypto offerings.

BBVA, Spain’s second-largest bank, launched Bitcoin and Ether trading and custody for each retail customers successful Spain successful 2025, aft piloting akin services for backstage banking clients successful Switzerland.

Germany’s Deutsche Bank is besides reportedly preparing to rotation retired a crypto custody service successful 2026 successful collaboration with Bitpanda and Swiss integer plus institution Taurus.

Magazine: How crypto laws changed successful 2025 — and however they’ll alteration successful 2026