Boerse Stuttgart Digital has received its final license from German financial regulator BaFin to offer bitcoin trading and custody.
Boerse Stuttgart Digital, a subsidiary of Germany’s second-largest stock exchange, has received the final license as a cryptocurrency custodian from German financial regulator, BaFin. The license allows the exchange to provide institutional investors with the ability to trade bitcoin on the platform as well as act as a custodian.
The exchange has been offering custody services through its Blocknox platform since January 2020, under a provisional license. With this new license, it will join the ranks of several major international companies officially entering the bitcoin custody and trading industry in recent times.
Fidelity opened its bitcoin trading platform to the public this month, allowing institutional investors to keep their bitcoin with them as well. In addition to this, Latin America’s largest e-commerce platform by market value, Mercado Libre, introduced bitcoin trading to its Chilean users, which was already available in Brazil.
It should be noted that all of these platforms bear the risks associated with third-party custody of your bitcoin. The safest way to ensure that your bitcoin is always accessible and always available is to self-custody, using a dedicated bitcoin wallet. Platforms like Boerse Stuttgart Digital and Fidelity have made bitcoin trading available to investors on these platforms, but don’t necessarily further enable the true potential of bitcoin adoption.