German banks began to offer services for the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies

After an extensive pilot and test phase, the German bank Raiffeisen Volksbank Bayern Mitte has begun officially offering its customers the Austrian State Printing House/OSD chainlock wallet solution as a simple and highly secure storage solution for customers’ Bitcoins.

All customers of a German bank can buy and trade Bitcoin directly through online banking. For secure storage, the bank also offers a solution called “VR-BitcoinGoCard”.

“Our cold wallet is shaped like a regular credit card and is manufactured in the OSD’s specially secured high-security zone – the same high-security zone that produces Austrian passports, driver’s licenses and other high-security documents,” explains OSD Managing Director Lukas Praml.

In addition, the card relies on many security features that are also used on official identification documents such as a passport or driver’s license. In addition to holograms, optically variable image elements (so-called “DOVID”) and microprinting, each cold wallet is also protected by UV printing and is resistant to physical manipulation due to the presence of a special protective layer of high security.

In addition, all users are invited to verify the received cold wallet by following a simple step-by-step guide through the application on their smartphone. Thus, cardholders can be sure that no fraudulent manipulations with “plastic” occurred, and all digital values ​​stored on it are completely protected.

Production in the high-security zone takes place completely offline.

“All of our employees at OSD are constantly subject to security checks. Nobody, not even our employees, has any idea of ​​the central part of the cold wallet, the so-called ‘private key,'” Praml says, explaining the extensive security precautions.

With “VR-BitcoinGoCard”, all customers of Volksbank Raiffeisenbank Bayern Mitte receive a high security cold wallet in credit card format. The card acts like a true cold wallet, requiring no electricity, upgrades, or any specific transfer technology standard. This makes it a suitable option for long-term storage, especially when placed in a safe or locker. The corresponding value of bitcoins in fiat currencies such as euros or dollars can be viewed at any time using the smartphone app. Only when the owner wants to sell his own Bitcoins or transfer them to another wallet does he point his “private key” to “VR-BitcoinGoCard”, erasing a section of the protective layer from the card’s surface. Such OSD security measures ensure that it is only at this point that the protected “private key” is made available to the user for the first time.