SolarisBank and Stuttgart Exchange Group are jointly developing infrastructure for a cryptocurrency exchange, Cointelegraph Germany reports Dec. 12.

The Stuttgart Exchange, founded in 1860, is the second-largest stock exchange in Germany and the ninth-largest in Europe. SolarisBank, on the other hand, is a German fintech company established in 2015 that holds a banking license and offers a “Banking as a Platform” service.

This news goes along with the plans announced by the exchange in May to release a zero-fee cryptocurrency trading application.

The two companies’ crypto exchange, “which is scheduled to launch in the first half of 2019,” will have SolarisBank acting as the exchange’s banking platform.

Roland Folz, the CEO of SolarisBank, declared that “a reliable and efficient trading platform is an elementary contribution to [their] vision of a hybrid financial world with both fiat and cryptocurrencies.”

The press release notes that Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) will be available for trading on the exchange by both retail and institutional investors. As well, an ICO platform, which had been announced in August, is under development for the exchange. The tokens introduced on the platform will be tradeable on secondary markets as well.

This project is part of SolarisBank’s “Blockchain Factory” initiative, which offers its customers specialized accounts meant for blockchain companies.

As Cointelegraph reported in April, VPE WertpapierhandelsBank AG (VPE), a German securities trading bank, has also partnered with SolarisBank. The partnership’s objective is to launch a cryptocurrency trading service for institutional investors.

Bitwala, a German crypto-banking startup operated by SolarisBank, also reported today that they have opened for business, with 40,000 preregistered customers who will gain access to Bitcoin and euro deposit accounts.

Using SolarisBank’s banking license, euro funds will be protected up to an amount of 100,000 euros and will be supervised by Germany’s two banking regulators: BaFin and Bundesbank.