Targeting institutional investors, the German securities market Deutsche Börse has formally introduced its own cryptocurrency trading platform.
On March 5, Deutsche Börse announced the opening of Deutsche Börse Digital Exchange (DBDX), its exclusive cryptocurrency spot platform for institutional clients.
The DBDX, which was introduced in partnership with custody provider Crypto Finance, provides a safe, regulated environment for the exchange, settlement, and storage of digital assets.
The DBDX will first trade on a request-for-quote (RfQ) basis, which is how businesses get bids from certain suppliers and contractors, according to Deutsche Börse.
A multilateral trading facility, or trading system that facilitates the exchange of financial instruments between several parties, will come after the RfQ trading.
According to the release, DBDX intends to offer its cryptocurrency trading services to customers in Germany and other European markets.
“Our new solution is a game changer for digital ecosystems. We aim to provide trusted market operations for crypto assets, ensuring transparency, security, and regulatory compliance for institutional clients in Europe,” Deutsche Börse’s head of digital assets, Carlo Kölzer, noted.
The new platform, he said, is the first step towards achieving Deutsche Börse’s goal of being a leader in the digitalization of asset classes, as outlined in the Horizon 2026 agenda.
In late 2023, Deutsche Börse first declared its plan to introduce a digital asset platform. The German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) granted Crypto Finance four licenses in February, allowing the company to offer regulated custody, trading, and settlement services for digital assets in Germany. The regulatory milestone evolved into an additional requirement for DBDX launch.
As the company has been actively involved in the cryptocurrency market in recent years, Deutsche Börse’s current step to enable cryptocurrency trading further reinforces the corporation’s supportive stance to cryptocurrencies.
Several financial products related to cryptocurrencies have been launched on Xetra, the electronic trading platform of Deutsche Börse. These products include exchange-traded Bitcoin and Ether instruments from prominent European issuers such as 21Shares.
The advantages of blockchain technology for processes such as securities financing have also been extensively investigated by the securities market.