Germany’s second-largest banking group DZ Bank and the crypto arm of the Boerse Stuttgart stock exchange have partnered to provide cryptocurrency trading and storage services to clients of the cooperative banking network.

Boerse Stuttgart and DZ Bank said they will pursue initiatives aimed at developing crypto infrastructure solutions that are “focused on providing services to retail customers.” The integration of these solutions will allow Germany’s 700 cooperative banks to offer their retail customers cryptocurrency trading, as well as ensure the secure storage of digital assets in a licensed fiduciary vault.

“We offer financial institutions across Europe a proven and fully regulated infrastructure for cryptocurrency trading and digital asset custody, Boerse Stuttgart Digital, aimed at retail clients. This is particularly interesting for financial institutions that place particular emphasis on professionalism, security and reliability,” the statement said.

DZ Bank specified that the integration of the solution will be phased and will begin at the end of this year. Initially, access to the services will be provided to a limited number of retail clients to test the new cryptocurrency trading offer.

Earlier, Germany’s largest credit and financial conglomerate, Deutsche Bank, announced plans to launch its own euro-denominated stablecoin, which will be regulated by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin).