Every day, countries are trying to become part of the thriving cryptocurrency asset industry. This time, Germany is not left behind.

Over 40 German banks have applied for the new crypto custodian license which is vital for the provision of professional custody services.

This is obvious that German financial institutions want to be part of the crypto industry.

The new license

According to the local German newspaper, Handelsblatt, Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) is dealing with the applications from these banks.

By November 2020, the new license will become a requirement to store digital assets on behalf of clients.

At the beginning of the year, Germany passed an anti-money laundering law to obey the new EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD).

The capacity for the banks to be able to collect crypto assets is as a result of this law.

According to the German financial regulator, the former business models were too lenient when specifying customers, therefore, they must either be modified or canceled.

When they are modified for digital asset product and service providers, legitimate crypto businesses would desire to set up in Germany.

Excitement trails the bank applications

There seems to be exciting as regards these bank’s applications.

Frank Schäffler, a member of parliament and Germany’s liberal democrats, is delighted about the great turn out of institutions that have applied to offer crypto custodianship.

He told Handelsblatt that the crypto asset market is growing past the Fedral Ministry of Finance expectations.

“The high demand for crypto custody licenses shows that companies are increasingly adopting blockchain technology.”

Even German companies that are effective in the digital asset space are confident about the new crypto custody rules.

Michael Offermann, Managing Director of Blockchain Factory at Berlin-based solarisBank, said they have been dealing intensively with crypto custody for a year and a half and the new regulation in the new Money Laundering Act is a good time to start.

He believes that digital assets will change the financial markets and as soon as the purchase and possession of Bitcoin become easier, powerful growth will be seen.

Martin Kassing, founder, and CEO of Upvest, a Berlin-based startup that focuses on real estate asset tokenization, added that they greet the new crypto custody license requirements in Germany as the respective regulatory certainty that will bring about the country being a winner in global blockchain adoption.

In addition, Berlin is already a strong tech hub that is further reinforced by this development.