Bitcoin Group SE, operator of the German cryptocurrency trading platform bitcoin.de, has announced that it has acquired 100% of the shares of Bankhaus von der Heydt. The bank has a full banking license and is a provider of digital asset custody and tokenization services.
According to an announcement published on Dec. 12, Bitcoin Group SE has preliminarily proposed to pay the bank’s owner, Dietrich von Boetticher, €14 million and 150,000 shares. The deal is subject to approval by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2023.
Bitcoin Group SE announced in October that it was in negotiations with several banks, including Bankhaus von der Heydt. Bloomberg then reported that privately owned Bankhaus von der Heydt had wanted to launch digital asset trading and custody services, in an attempt to regain profitability, but was unable to finance the necessary technology on its own. The bank did succeed in launching a euro-denominated stablecoin, EURB, in 2020, but Know Your Customer regulations prevented the coin from being openly traded.
This is just the latest acquisition that Bitcoin Group SE has made in the German banking sector. The group acquired futurum bank in a merger that was announced in 2018 and completed in 2020. Also in 2018, Bitcoin Group SE bought investment bank Tremmel Wertpapierhandelsbank, which was later merged with futurum.
Bankhaus von der Heydt was founded in 1754 and is based in Munich. BMX Operations, a company founded by BitMex executives, tried to buy Bankhaus von der Heydt in January, but the parties called off negotiations in March.
Germany was rated as the world’s most favorable crypto economy in Q3 2022 in a survey conducted by Coincub. It was followed by Switzerland and Australia in that survey. The United States ranked seventh.
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