DekaBank, a German investment bank with 377 billion euros ($395 billion) in assets under management, introduced cryptocurrency trading and custody services for institutional clients after almost two years of development.

The Frankfurt-based company’s move follows regulatory approval for a crypto custody license from the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), while operating under the supervision of the European Central Bank (ECB), Bloomberg reported.

«We have the necessary experience, required licenses and a tested, ready-to-use infrastructure to support savings banks and our institutional clients,» board member Martin K. Müller told Bloomberg.

DekaBank, the asset manager of the country’s largest financial services group, Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe, is marketing its new offering with a focus on security and regulatory compliance, according to the report.

Other cryptocurrency offerings in the country’s broader savings bank sector have already been introduced. Financial institutions such as Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW), have partnered with crypto platforms like Bitpanda to allow corporate clients to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.

Meanwhile Germany’s cooperative banks, led by DZ Bank, are planning to roll out a cryptocurrency offering aimed at private customers by the middle of the year. The initiative is being launched alongside IT service provider Atruvia and the Stuttgart Stock Exchange.

DekaBank had not responded to a request for a comment by publication time.

EDX Markets, which is backed by Fidelity Digital Assets, Charles Schwab and Citadel Securities, is adding 17 new cryptocurrencies to its platform, transforming its previously limited selection into a more robust trading platform as it gets ready to absorb growing institutional demand for crypto.

“From the outset, we were designed and built for institutions for exactly what’s happening right now,” EDX Markets CEO Tony Acuña-Rohter, told CoinDesk.

Acuña-Rohter was appointed CEO of the exchange in December after founder and then-CEO Jamil Nazarali moved to the position of executive chair of the EDX Board. “We were quite fortunate because FTX happened, crypto winter followed, which gave us two years to build out our technology,» said Acuña-Rohter. “Now we have this company that’s ready to absorb all the new entrants from traditional finance.”

The newly listed tokens include AAVE (Aave), BCH (Bitcoin Cash), COMP (Compound), LINK (Chainlink), PEPE (Pepecoin), SOL (Solana), UNI (Uniswap), USDC (USD Coin), WIF (Dogwifhat), XRP (Ripple), AVAX (Avalanche), ADA (Cardano), BONK (Bonk Coin), Stellar Lumens (XLM), TRUMP (Trump Coin), XTZ (Tezos), ETC (Ethereum Classic).

“We tend to be very conservative from a regulatory perspective and because we are focused on institutions, we also make sure that we have very clear processes, policies and procedures,” saidAcuña-Rohter. The risk of adding the new tokens decreased significantly with the new administration, which is very focused on providing clarity rather than enforcing actions against crypto companies, he added.

The exchange, which is available to institutions only, launched in the U.S. in June 2023 and made headlines with investments from major Wall Street firms Fidelity, Schwab, Paradigm, Sequoia Capital and Citadel, the latter being a former employer of Nazarali.

One key difference between EDX Markets and other crypto exchanges is that it doesn’t hold customers’ digital assets. Instead, users trade through financial intermediaries, much like how transactions occur on traditional stock exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq. This structure appeals to regulators, EDX CEO Jamil Nazarali explained, as it ensures a clear separation between the exchange and broker-dealer functions.

However, EDX Markets kept its asset offerings low for the past two years, sticking to bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), and litecoin (LTC).

By integrating a basket of new assets, the exchange hopes to grow its client base and be a one-stop-shop for clients, globally.

The company also plans to introduce a perpetual futures exchange in the second quarter of this year, which will be based out of Singapore but available to jurisdictions all around the world that allow the trading of perpetual futures. This doesn’t include the U.S.

In the U.S., where the company is based, EDX continues to be focused on expanding its product offerings and onboarding clients from the traditional financial world, said Acuña-Rohter, noting the company is already working with various clients to solidify their plans and map out their integrations in the space.

“This is the moment we’ve been waiting for,” he said.

Ethena, developer of the synthetic stablecoin USDe, has raised $100 million to finance a similar token targeted at traditional financial (TradFi) institutions, Bloomberg reported on Monday.

The funding round was completed in December, with Franklin Templeton and Fidelity Investments-affiliated F-Prime Capital among the backers, the report added, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Founder Guy Young said in a blog post in January that Ethena has plans to roll out iUSDe, a token tailored to regulated financial institutions.

Known as a synthetic stablecoin, USDe differs from other tokens in that it is not backed 1:1 by fiat assets. Instead, it maintains its peg by collateralizing stablecoins and taking futures positions with large open interest.

USDe’s market cap has jumped to around $6 billion this month, becoming the third largest stablecoin behind Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC, which are worth $142 billion and $57 billion respectively.

Some observers see USDe as a potential safe heaven during periods of greater volatility in the wider crypto market. Arthur Hayes, chief investment officer of Maelstrom, has said the digital asset fund has raised its exposure to USDe «to record levels.»

«We will be positioned with copious amounts of dry powder ready to buy the dip on Bitcoin,» Hayes, who is an investor in and an advisor to Ethena, added.

Ethena did not immediately respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment on the $100 million funding round.

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