ADA Trading Expands Across German Cooperative Banks

Raiffeisenbank Auerbach-Freihung launched meinKrypto on September 7 after completing the required regulatory and technical procedures. The bank confirmed that its first crypto transactions were successfully executed.

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Cardano are the four assets currently supported by the service. The new activation continues a bank-by-bank rollout that began earlier in 2026.

Bank-Level Rollout Continues in September

DZ Bank received authorization from Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, BaFin, to operate meinKrypto under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation at the end of December 2025.

The authorization was announced on January 12, 2026, when DZ Bank also confirmed that ADA would be included among the platform’s four initial assets.

The first production launch for retail customers took place at Volksbank Raiffeisenbank Würzburg in May. Additional institutions followed during the summer. Volksbank Heiden stated in August that it was among the first ten cooperative banks to complete the implementation and receive the required BaFin notification.

Each Volksbank and Raiffeisenbank decides independently whether to introduce meinKrypto. Participating institutions must complete their own MiCAR notification, implement the technology, and activate the service for customers.

Platow Brief reported in June that ten cooperative banks were authorized at that time to offer crypto services more broadly. DZ Bank expected further activations before the end of 2026, but no unified national rollout schedule or consolidated number of completed launches has been published.

Potential Reach Across 30 Million Customers

Germany’s cooperative banking network consists of 646 institutions serving more than 30 million customers. Of those, 17.5 million are also members of their respective banks.

The 30 million figure is not the number of meinKrypto users. It represents the total customer base that could gain access to regulated ADA trading if additional banks activate the service.

Illustrative scenarios show the scale of that distribution channel. One percent of the total customer base would equal approximately 300,000 users, while five percent would represent 1.5 million and ten percent would represent three million. These figures are not adoption forecasts or estimates of future ADA buyers.

A Genoverband survey conducted in September 2025 found that more than one-third of cooperative banks planned to introduce the crypto service in the following months. The same proportion across the current network would represent more than 200 institutions, although the survey measured planned participation rather than completed launches.

Atruvia states that its infrastructure covers 97 million bank accounts and more than 900 institutional clients, including all German Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken. The figure refers to accounts rather than unique users of the VR Banking App or meinKrypto.

Banking Access Does Not Equal On-Chain Usage

MeinKrypto was developed by DZ Bank and Atruvia. Boerse Stuttgart Digital provides custody for the supported crypto assets, while transactions are executed through EUWAX.

Customers of participating banks do not need to open an account with a separate crypto exchange. Their bank account, crypto wallet, and trading interface are combined within the VR Banking App. The service is designed for self-directed customers and is not part of the banks’ investment advisory offering.

Buying ADA through meinKrypto does not automatically involve using a personal Cardano wallet, staking, DeFi applications, or on-chain governance. The assets are held through the custody infrastructure provided by Boerse Stuttgart Digital.

No consolidated data has been published on the number of meinKrypto wallets, active users, or completed ADA purchases. Network-wide conditions for transferring purchased ADA to personal Cardano addresses have also not been published.

The confirmed development is that regulated ADA trading is now live at multiple German cooperative banks and continues to expand through individual activations. Cardano remains one of only four crypto assets supported by meinKrypto.