German crypto asset trading platform Bitcoin Group SE buys bank with full license

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Bitcoin Group SE, operator of the German crypto-trading platform bitcoin.de, announced that it has acquired 100% of the shares of Bankhaus von der Heydt. The bank has a full banking license and is a provider of digital asset custody and tokenization services.

According to an announcement published on December 12, Bitcoin Group SE originally offered to pay bank owner Dietrich von Boetticher €14 million and 150,000 shares. Subject to approval by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), the transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2023.

Bitcoin Group SE announced in October that it was in negotiations with several banks, including Bankhaus von der Heydt. Bloomberg reported at the time that private bank Bankhaus von der Heydt had wanted to launch digital asset trading and custody services, aiming to regain profitability, but was unable to fund the technology on its own. necessary. The bank successfully launched a euro-denominated stablecoin, EURB, in 2020, but Know Your Customer regulations prevented the coin from being traded openly.

Related: German Financial Regulator Orders Coinbase to Crack Down on Corporate Organizational Practices

This is just the latest acquisition Bitcoin Group SE has made in the German banking industry. The group acquired futureum bank in a merger that was announced in 2018 and completed in 2020. Also in 2018, Bitcoin Group SE purchased investment bank Tremmel Wertpapierhandelsbank, which was later merged into futurum.

Bankhaus von der Heydt was founded in 1754 and is based in Munich. BMX Operations, a company founded by BitMEX executives, tried to buy Bankhaus von der Heydt in January, but the parties called off talks in March.

Germany was ranked the most favorable crypto economy in the world in the third quarter of 2022 in a survey by Coincub. It was followed by Switzerland and Australia in the survey, with the United States ranking seventh.

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