Detailed explanation of Deutsche Bank's crypto asset custody plan

Core Points

Initial support covers five named digital assets. The service is aimed at institutional customers rather than retail users. Custody services include asset transfer functions, but do not involve the transaction business in the announcement. Cryptocurrencies lack normal guarantee protection similar to bank deposits. Banks will operate wallets for customers.

Definition and operating mechanism of custody

Cryptographic asset custody refers to the secure custody and management of private keys that control blockchain assets. Companies may check their bitcoin balances on the chain, but cannot move those bitcoins if they cannot access the corresponding private key.

Under the services announced by Deutsche Bank, banks will manage wallets and private keys on behalf of customers. Customers can hold the backed assets and instruct banks to transfer them to third parties. Companies using this service do not need to develop their own custody systems, protect restored materials, or create signature technology processes for blockchain transfers. The bank will manage this access infrastructure on its behalf.

The initial service is intended to serve Deutsche Bank's corporate banking and investment banking customers in Europe. Potential users include corporations, asset managers, hedge funds, brokers, custodians and sovereign institutions. Applicants still need to meet their induction review, due diligence and risk requirements.

The first batch of assets covers investment and settlement needs

该行启动时的资产列表比某些竞争对手的项目更广泛。如我们此前在关于花旗集团机构托管系统的报告中所述，花旗计划推出的“Custody+”服务预计仅从比特币开始。相比之下，德意志银行为其初期发布命名了比特币、以太坊以及三种稳定币。

计划首先推出的是比特币和以太坊，以及USDC、EURC和EURAU。前两者是波动性较大的加密资产，而后三者则是旨在追踪传统货币的稳定币或电子货币代币。这种组合赋予了该服务两个实际用途：比特币和以太坊可作为投资持有，或在区块链应用程序中使用。对于企业客户而言，稳定币可能更适用于结算和资金调拨，而非长期投资，尽管目前尚未确定初始客户的具体用例。

银行可能会根据客户需求扩展资产列表，前提是每项新增资产均通过其产品审批、风险管理和监管流程。代币化金融工具也在路线图之中。它们的加入将使服务范围扩展到基于区块链的证券或其他传统资产的代表形式。

然而，支持某种资产进行托管，并不意味着银行会提供购买该资产的市场。客户仍需要单独的交易平台。该服务仅保障资产安全并处理经客户授权的转账。公告中未包含买卖加密货币的场所，且该产品不包含零售账户、质押、借贷或收益功能。客户在将资产存入托管之前，仍需通过其他渠道获取这些资产。任何后续增加的交易功能或直接连接到执行场所的安排，都将是当前计划的独立扩展部分。

尚未披露的细节

• 客户费用及最低持仓要求
• 首发涵盖的欧洲国家范围
• 每种代币所支持的具体区块链网络
• 客户转账的预期处理时间
• 保险措施及客户资产的法律地位

安全体系围绕多层级审批构建

允许一名员工控制机构钱包将造成单点故障。此人可能会丢失访问权限、批准未经授权的交易或成为盗窃目标。机构托管则将责任分散到多个技术和操作控制环节中。

德意志银行表示，它将采用安全的密钥生成、基于硬件的保护以及分离的热存储和冷存储。冷存储将密钥材料离线保存，以减少遭受互联网攻击的风险。热存储在需要处理授权转账时更具可访问性。

The system will also separate employee responsibilities and require multiple approvals. Redundant infrastructure, backup and recovery procedures are designed to maintain access if part of the system fails. External technology companies will provide specific parts of the infrastructure, but banks will remain the institutions providing custody services to customers.

Price, network and counterparty risks remain

Custody arrangements can remove key management from customers, but the value of Bitcoin and Ethereum may still fall. Issues originating from blockchain, token issuers, trading platforms or external infrastructure providers may also affect assets held through the service.

If the customer provides the wrong address, blockchain transfers may be difficult or even impossible to reverse, depending on the specific assets and networks involved. Multi-person approval can reduce the chance of such mistakes, but there is no guarantee that funds can be recovered after the transfer is completed.

announcement also warns of the risks of volatility, fraud, cyber incidents and other market participant failures. Cryptographic assets held through the service will not receive deposit guarantee protection equivalent to qualified bank deposits.

Zcash holders choose 25-second blocks: What changes will this bring?

The project starts in 2023, but still relies on the completion of the regulatory process. Deutsche Bank has been developing digital asset custody services for years. According to Reuters, in 2023, the bank will cooperate with Swiss infrastructure company Taurus to carry out custody of cryptocurrencies and tokenized assets.

最新的公告明确了目标客户、首批支持的资产和安全控制措施。然而，该行现在仅提及选定的外部提供商，尚未确认哪些公司将支持最终产品。该行计划在今年在欧洲推出该服务，前提是完成适用的监管流程。目前没有提供具体日期，且在运营开始前，可用的国家、资产和产品范围可能会发生变化。

一旦服务推出，其使用情况将比公告揭示更多信息。如果持仓集中在比特币和以太坊上，则指向一种投资托管业务；而频繁的稳定币转账或代币化证券的加入，则表明其在机构结算中扮演更广泛的角色。

本文仅供参考，不构成财务、投资或法律建议。计划的推出时间、支持的资产和服务范围仍受监管和内部审批流程的约束。