Germany’s traditional banking establishment is about to do something that would have been unthinkable two years ago. The country’s sprawling Sparkassen savings bank network and its cooperative banking sector, led by DZ Bank, are preparing to let customers buy and sell crypto directly through the same mobile apps they use to check their checking accounts.

The Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe, which serves approximately 50 million retail clients, plans to launch Bitcoin and Ether trading through DekaBank’s securities platform by summer 2026. DZ Bank is moving even faster, with its “meinKrypto” platform already having secured MiCA authorization from Germany’s financial regulator BaFin. That platform is targeting a…