German Bank announces to support Bitcoin; says it's important to own private key

[dothebeats]

It's very rare to see a bank acknowledging bitcoin's benefits towards the common folk, because normally they would promote their service and their own products rather than other things that could potentially shadow what they are offering. Perhaps, banks in Germany really have a somewhat different business model that allows them to do things like this and still be on the safe side of things. Nevertheless, it's cool that a bank believes that bitcoin is a part of the future that we're all marching forward to.

[SFR10]

1. All Volks- und Raiffeisenbanken in Germany will be likely to follow and have around 30 millions of customers.

Unfortunately, only a small portion of that number would probably convert or rather purchase BTCitcoin in the first few years ^{[I hope I'm wrong]}.

• Only Bitcoin will be offered:

Amen to that!

For example, you can't lend Bitcoin in a decentralized way, so a bank would be needed for that.

I think I'm missing something here... How could any of the traditional banks, help you in lending your BTCitcoin in a decentralized way?

It's only beginning. Bitcoin first and if they see that it is good, they will expand to other cryptocurrency. In the end, banks must maintain their customer and transaction activities because it affects bank income.

After reading that article twice, I'm convinced they're not a type of bank that would tarnish their reputation just to earn slightly more from other shitcoins!

We also offer customers a so-called "cold wallet". Corresponding products are currently being developed in our project.

That's interesting!

Another risk is the regulatory requirements and the dynamism of the regulatory environment. We may have to readjust our services if the legislature decides new rules.

The only part that I didn't like from reading that article ^{[I guess that's bound to happen at some point]}...

[hatshepsut93]

A good question is:  Why would a bank want to give the option to their customers to hold bitcoin themselves? Isn't it against the whole point of a bank? I mean it's fine if they announce that they keep reserves in bitcoin, but why promoting it as a currency if it makes your business poorer?

Hundreds of years ago banks were dealing with gold and other precious metal money, there's nothing that says that banks can't deal with Bitcoin. Bitcoin can't replace all financial services, it can only offer transferring and storing of money.

I understand that not everyone wants to be completely responsible for their money, and therefore banks or some sort of third party is likely forever going to be needed. Although, I think by default at the very least the client should be offered what they want to do by default, and be explained without bias on what that exactly means.

You don't have to store all coins yourself or put all coins in bank, you might want to put some portion of your Bitcoin stash into bank and maybe earn interest on it or have it there in case something happens to your primary storage, or for easier inheritance and so on.

[batang_bitcoin]

I've seen a few banks having an interest in bitcoin but if this German bank is very popular and they're supporting bitcoin with millions of customers, it's truly good news that they're into it and have to educate their customers first. But what will be the reaction of their customers if they get to know that they can be their own bank instead of using banking service if it's just about deposits.

[24Kt]

I've seen a few banks having an interest in bitcoin but if this German bank is very popular and they're supporting bitcoin with millions of customers, it's truly good news that they're into it and have to educate their customers first. But what will be the reaction of their customers if they get to know that they can be their own bank instead of using banking service if it's just about deposits.

Some banks are already getting on board with crypto because they are realizing that people are getting into crypto even if banks have warnings of going into crypto market. So it is like, if you can't beat them, join them type scenario. So what they can do is face what is inevitable and just educate their customers about it. Some people will still use the banking system even if they learn how to be their own bank because they want third party security. Some of them don't want to hold their assets and they are just happy that someone is taking care of their funds.

[batang_bitcoin]

I've seen a few banks having an interest in bitcoin but if this German bank is very popular and they're supporting bitcoin with millions of customers, it's truly good news that they're into it and have to educate their customers first. But what will be the reaction of their customers if they get to know that they can be their own bank instead of using banking service if it's just about deposits.

Some banks are already getting on board with crypto because they are realizing that people are getting into crypto even if banks have warnings of going into crypto market. So it is like, if you can't beat them, join them type scenario. So what they can do is face what is inevitable and just educate their customers about it. Some people will still use the banking system even if they learn how to be their own bank because they want third party security. Some of them don't want to hold their assets and they are just happy that someone is taking care of their funds.

Yeah, that's the logic. They're seeing that crypto is already in the mainstream and it's just a matter of time until everyone knows and have their own crypto portfolios.
Honestly, we still need the banks for some reasons like if you need to save your cash and you don't want to spend them and you have no vault in your house. But, it's really worth noting about their service which is centralized and bitcoin as decentralized.

[Dhaniii]

Most important point: it’s important to own your Bitcoins:
The most important topic when trading or storing Bitcoin is to be owner of your so-called private key, (secret key allowing access to your Bitcoin). This is where our first considerations were made.

I don't think the vast majority of Bitcoin holders understand how important this concept is. Any coin to which you do not hold ownership of the private keys are not your coins, it's merely an agreement between you and the true owner of the private key that the coin is yours, subject to change on a whim by the private key's owner. The number of crypto investors that store their crypto on exchanges or 3rd party apps is palpable. Seeing a bank take this approach is refreshing.

the bank has realized that the biggest asset in the future is bitcoin. To avoid the occurrence of a bank operational stoppage as a result of the transfer of transactions from fiat money to digital money, of course, the latest innovations from banks are needed, however, they must have a system that can adopt bitcoin through the bank center. I think that's the good thing about German banks, before the government actually enforces digital money as a legal exchange, it must educate its customers first.

[slaman29]

Wow that sounds like a weird kind of news to me. Banks allowing people to actually own their private keys is a really, really big thing. Germany seems to be very ahead of the times when it comes to crypto, but I wonder how many actually own Bitcoin there. Germans I bet all know about Bitcoin but how many actually have real coins and only them control their own private keys, that could be a pointer for the rest of Europe to consider.

[BlackHatCoiner]

By selling / converting BTC, the bank would still make a profit and the article also mentions to sell education-courses for customers interested in Bitcoin (most likely inlcuding informational material).

So it's a business. May I assume they'll open up some sort of exchange in a subdomain of their webpage for buying and selling with crazy fees?

Hundreds of years ago banks were dealing with gold and other precious metal money, there's nothing that says that banks can't deal with Bitcoin. Bitcoin can't replace all financial services, it can only offer transferring and storing of money.

Sure, but people were handing out their gold to banks. Not the opposite.

[Lucius]

The attitude of many people who understand Bitcoin is that we don't need banks and that Bitcoin was created just to get around them when we do transactions. But given that banks exist for profit, we could have known that things like this would start happening sooner or later and that none of us could do anything to prevent it. If banks had a modus operandi introduced in the OP, then they would do minimal damage, while at the same time helping to promote and adopt Bitcoin - because it is an indisputable fact that most people still fully trust the banks.

Consequently, the question arises as to whether Bitcoin can use banks as a Trojan horse to spread among a population that still has a completely wrong notion of what Bitcoin really is?

[NeuroticFish]

It’s a very bullish signal if a board director of a German bank points out what’s important about Bitcoin (education about Bitcoin’s tech, supporting a really decentralized coin (no shitcoins), not your keys not your coins).

Wow, how I almost missed this news! It's wonderful!
It's not only that the board director tells about the correct moves, but education is very important. And Germany is a powerful trend setter in Europe, and German banks are spread all over Europe. I wish it work out. It can be the thing, the big change. I'm impressed.

[Sterbens]

It's very rare to see a bank acknowledging bitcoin's benefits towards the common folk, because normally they would promote their service and their own products rather than other things that could potentially shadow what they are offering. Perhaps, banks in Germany really have a somewhat different business model that allows them to do things like this and still be on the safe side of things. Nevertheless, it's cool that a bank believes that bitcoin is a part of the future that we're all marching forward to.

Of course, from the beginning, the Bank was always challenged with Bitcoin, but here we are facing a moment that is quite strange. German banks break the concept of banking. We don't know what is the meaning behind all this. But it becomes a turning point for anyone who is dealing with Bitcoin will eventually succumb little by little. Whatever the German Bank is doing. Hopefully, it will provide good service and provide benefits for the welfare of the community in terms of Bitcoin ownership.

[TheNineClub]

Not bad news. If I am not mistaken, Germany has some more or less lenient views on taxing crypto income (Crypto that's been held for 2 years or more is not taxable).  Banks offering crypto services in business operations is a smart move, it might even push other banks in the EU to do the same.

[Woodie]

More banking institutions getting on board could actually be a signal for governments support for cryptocurrencies but of course having legislation which dictates the governments position will take time but this on its own is a win win for everyone! Hope more banks join this crypto journey.

[Falconer]

More banking institutions getting on board could actually be a signal for governments support for cryptocurrencies but of course having legislation which dictates the governments position will take time but this on its own is a win win for everyone! Hope more banks join this crypto journey.

Most governments support bitcoin, but certainly not as a currency or mean of payment. Government support for bitcoin has so far been limited to trading and investment assets although some countries have legalized it as a means of payment but the majority have not. The ban on bitcoin is only carried out by a small number of countries in the world because most have been legalized by statutory provisions as a tradable asset. Only china bans all bitcoin activity and all altcoin, I won't talk about them here.

Banks actually know what they can get if they want to have a service for bitcoin, yes that's an advantage. Bank can generate profit from bitcoin transaction where it is the thing they are most likely to get from users, this support is of course for various reason because banks and bitcoin are rivals in the financial system. But what is surprising is, they educate people on how to have good security when someone has bitcoin in their wallet.

[Digitalbitcoin]

Really admirable step towards the upcoming future of the Crypto world. These are not only admirable but also appreciable steps and every country must have to follow them.

Nowadays banks are taking it for granted as digital assets in many countries, but soon it will become mainstream for payment or mode of exchange for goods and services in many countries as more and more users are getting into the digital economy.

Adoption of such an innovative and revolutionary concept is a bit harder for many countries, but as we all know Bitcoin is completely decentralized, no one control it. It is an open-source, transparent, and peer-to-peer network that keeps a record on the ledger for every transaction made within the network. Along with no one control Bitcoins price.

So in such specific conditions, no country or government has control over Bitcoins production, No control over Bitcoins distribution, even no control over its price volatility so, how can any government make law for it.

Better to adopt it and make the legal framework for taxation is the only way for many countries to regulate it.

[dkbit98]

Recently, a famous German Bank (Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken, Bayern Mitte) has announced to consider offering Bitcoin services. It happened a few days ago already but it’s a very bullish news if you look at 2 facts

This is very interesting news and forum is the first place I heard about it, it's even more interesting when we know that Raiffeisenbank is operating in my other European countries and not only in Germany.
It's true that banks can't do anything on their own but in reality we know they are all supporting politicians that can speed up adoption of Bitcoin.
Question I am asking myself is why would a bank do such a big deal related with Bitcoin if they don't have some benefit and profit from this deal, there must be some hidden agenda I can't see right now.
Looks like a step in a good direction but let's wait and see what happens in next few months.
 

[1miau]

By selling / converting BTC,

Does this mean that this bank is going to start buying bitcoin so that they can sell it to customers who want it or does it mean that the bank is going to act like a centralized exchange and only receive commission for letting people trade in their platform?

From their announcement, I would say yes to the bold part. But we have already a model in Germany, different from a trading platform: Bitcoin.de. It's like an open marketplace.
Could also be an option for Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken maybe...

But the procedure isn't clear yet.

By selling / converting BTC, the bank would still make a profit and the article also mentions to sell education-courses for customers interested in Bitcoin (most likely inlcuding informational material).

So it's a business. May I assume they'll open up some sort of exchange in a subdomain of their webpage for buying and selling with crazy fees?

We don't know much yet about their business model but I expect higher fees similar to ATMs.

Not bad news. If I am not mistaken, Germany has some more or less lenient views on taxing crypto income (Crypto that's been held for 2 years or more is not taxable).  Banks offering crypto services in business operations is a smart move, it might even push other banks in the EU to do the same.

It's only 1 year, so if you HODL your coins 1 year, it's tax free profits.  
But I'm not sure how long it will stay that way.
I'm very surprised that it hasn't been chanced already.  

Recently, a famous German Bank (Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken, Bayern Mitte) has announced to consider offering Bitcoin services. It happened a few days ago already but it’s a very bullish news if you look at 2 facts

This is very interesting news and forum is the first place I heard about it, it's even more interesting when we know that Raiffeisenbank is operating in my other European countries and not only in Germany.
It's true that banks can't do anything on their own but in reality we know they are all supporting politicians that can speed up adoption of Bitcoin.
Question I am asking myself is why would a bank do such a big deal related with Bitcoin if they don't have some benefit and profit from this deal, there must be some hidden agenda I can't see right now.
Looks like a step in a good direction but let's wait and see what happens in next few months.

Banks like Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken are a bit different from what we know about Americans banks, so profits are important but not that important.
We discussed profits here:

A good question is:  Why would a bank want to give the option to their customers to hold bitcoin themselves? Isn't it against the whole point of a bank? I mean it's fine if they announce that they keep reserves in bitcoin, but why promoting it as a currency if it makes your business poorer?

By selling / converting BTC, the bank would still make a profit and the article also mentions to sell education-courses for customers interested in Bitcoin (most likely inlcuding informational material).

After all, it's possible, that the bank and the customer end up having a profit.

[mynonce]

Question I am asking myself is why would a bank do such a big deal related with Bitcoin ...

Maybe, they have invested big in Bitcoin 

[dkbit98]

Banks like Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken are a bit different from what we know about Americans banks, so profits are important but not that important.

Banks only exist because of profits and control of money, so it sounds a bit suspicious they would allow customers to own bitcoin on their own wallets.
I am thinking how they are planning to make their own centralized wallets, something like it was done in El Salvador with Chivo wallet, but that is just my speculation.
I also doubt bank would allow anyone to hold Bitcoin without revealing kyc customer information, maybe even worse than some centralized exchanges are doing now.

Maybe, they have invested big in Bitcoin 

It's possible, but this would be major news in Germany and worldwide, and I didn't hear anything about this.
However, some of their board members and investors probably invested in Bitcoin as part of their portfolio.