DekaBank, the securities provider for Germany’s Sparkassen savings banks, has launched a cryptocurrency trading service that allows adult customers of participating banks to buy Bitcoin through the Sparkasse app.
The service went live on 19 October under the name “Krypto – powered by Deka”. It also supports Ethereum, Solana, XRP and Polygon’s POL.
Customers must hold a current account with a participating Sparkasse and open a Deka crypto account through the app’s “Anlegen” section. The service is being introduced in stages, with each Sparkasse deciding independently whether to make it available.
As of 20 October, Deka’s list of participating banks included Frankfurter Sparkasse, Sparkasse Rottal-Inn, Niederrheinische Sparkasse RheinLippe, Taunus Sparkasse and Sparkasse Karlsruhe.
The launch follows plans reported in June 2025. Neither Deka’s announcement nor its directory of participating banks provided figures for the number of crypto accounts opened or customers trading through the service, meaning its take-up remains unclear.
Fees, limits and custody
Deka’s retail pricing sheet sets a charge of €0.99 for each purchase or sale. There is no minimum order size, while individual transactions are limited to a maximum of €250,000.
Customers will also pay a spread incorporated into the trading quote. DekaBank adds that spread to a market reference price, although the pricing sheet does not state how large it is. As a result, the €0.99 transaction fee does not represent the full potential cost of trading.
Deka’s product information also warns that technical problems or planned maintenance could prevent customers from buying or selling at their preferred time or price.
The bank says it will hold customers’ crypto assets centrally, with private keys kept on their behalf in a shared, or omnibus, wallet.
Withdrawals are restricted to addresses belonging to specified crypto-asset service providers, known as CASPs. Transfers to other addresses are not permitted, meaning customers cannot send assets directly to their own self-custody wallets. Deka says custody and permitted outbound transfers are free.
Its October whitelist includes Crypto Finance (Deutschland) GmbH, Tangany GmbH, Borse Stuttgart Digital Custody GmbH and Bullish Europe GmbH. A separate minimum-delivery table sets the threshold for Bitcoin transfers at 0.0001 BTC.
Deka warns customers that they could lose their entire investment and says cryptocurrency holdings are not covered by statutory bank-deposit protection.
Bitcoin was up 1.19% over the previous 24 hours in the source data and was ranked number one by market capitalisation. Crypto trading is generally considered a high-risk activity, with the value of digital assets capable of falling to zero.
