Sparkassen Launches Bitcoin Trading in Banking App via DekaBank

Sparkassen customers can now trade crypto in their banking app

Germany's Sparkassen savings-bank network started offering retail cryptocurrency trading through DekaBank in the App Sparkasse on Oct. 19. Customers at participating savings banks can buy bitcoin and four other tokens without opening an account at an outside crypto exchange.

The service is called "Krypto – powered by Deka." Customers open a separate crypto account with DekaBank through the app's "Anlegen," or investing, section. Deka supplies the trading quotes and holds the assets.

Five banks live, more than 230 interested

• Deka's participating-bank directory lists Frankfurter Sparkasse, Sparkasse Rottal-Inn, Niederrheinische Sparkasse RheinLippe, Taunus Sparkasse and Sparkasse Karlsruhe.
• Maximilian Wirth, who said he accompanied the project from strategy through launch at the German Savings Banks Association (DSGV), said more than 230 savings banks had expressed interest in introducing the service.
• DSGV counted 337 institutions as of August 2026, so the launch does not automatically extend across the whole network. Access depends on whether a customer's own savings bank participates.

Which tokens are available

The service supports bitcoin, ether, XRP, solana and Polygon's POL token.

What Deka requires from customers

Deka's terms require customers to be at least 18, to reside exclusively in Germany, and to be subject to unlimited tax liability only in Germany. Customers also need online banking, an activated electronic mailbox and a settlement account at a cooperating savings bank, and they must pass customer-identification checks.

€0.99 per trade plus a spread

Deka's retail price schedule sets a €0.99 charge for each purchase or sale, with no minimum order and a maximum of €250,000 per transaction. Custody is free.

The €0.99 charge is not the full trading cost. Deka gives a time-limited quote based on a market reference price plus its own spread — the gap between the price Deka buys at and the price it offers the customer. Deka says pricing can change for larger orders or during heightened volatility.

How the assets are held and moved

Deka holds customers' private keys and pools their assets in omnibus wallets, according to its custody disclosure. Retail customers cannot deposit crypto they acquired elsewhere. The service is for self-directed investors, without advice from the savings bank, and the assets do not qualify for statutory deposit insurance.

Withdrawals are restricted to wallets at approved crypto service providers, and direct transfers to a personal self-custody wallet are not allowed. Deka's October approved-provider list names Crypto Finance (Deutschland), Tangany, Börse Stuttgart Digital Custody and Bullish Europe.

What is confirmed

The launch date of Oct. 19, the five participating banks listed by Deka, the five supported tokens, the fee structure and transaction limits, the custody arrangements and the withdrawal restrictions are all set out in Deka's own documents or confirmed by the company's published lists.

What is still unclear

The exact number of savings banks that will eventually offer the service is not known. More than 230 have expressed interest, according to Wirth, but that is a statement of interest rather than a confirmed rollout plan, and no timeline has been given for the remaining institutions.

Why it matters

For the first time, customers at these Sparkassen can buy crypto from inside the app they already use for everyday banking, rather than signing up with a separate exchange. At the same time, the set-up keeps customers inside Deka's custody system: they cannot move coins purchased elsewhere into the account, and they cannot send coins directly to a personal wallet.

Sources

• The Defiant