154-year-old bank to offer crypto investments after much hesitation

Anand Sinha

Thu, February 12, 2026 at 6:37 AM GMT+9 3 min read

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BTC-USD

-1.28%

BLK

-0.45%

DNKEY

-0.77%

ETH-USD

-1.92%

It was in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis that Bitcoin (BTC) was launched a year later to challenge the dominance of Wall Street in international money circles.

Since then, the cryptocurrency has come a come a long way and is now a $1.3 trillion behemoth despite the ongoing crash.

Wall Street giants like BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) were at first quite critical of Bitcoin, but growing adoption and soaring value drove the asset manager to launch a U.S. spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) linked to the crypto asset in January 2024. The success of the spot Bitcoin ETF encouraged BlackRock to launch a spot ETF linked to Ethereum (ETH) in July the same year.

Now, a 154-year-old banking institution has also decided to offer crypto investments after much hesitation.

Related: Mysterious trader bets millions right after latest BlackRock announcement

Danske Bank to offer Bitcoin and Ethereum ETPs

Founded in 1871, Danske Bank A/S is a Danish multinational banking and financial services corporation. Headquartered in Copenhagen, it is the largest bank in Denmark and a major retail bank in the northern European region.

Like most traditional institutions, the bank was first dismissive of cryptocurrencies.

In 2018, it refused to allow crypto trading over its platforms and urged customers to refrain from investing in these assets.

“Overall, we are negative towards cryptocurrencies and we strongly recommend that our customers avoid investing in cryptocurrencies,” the bank remarked in a report that year.

After nearly eight years, the bank announced on Feb. 11 that for the first time, its customers will be able to invest in exchange-traded products (ETPs) that track Bitcoin and Ethereum prices.

The bank’s customers will be able to invest in these crypto products via Danske eBanking and Danske Mobile Banking without using any digital wallets.

The headquarters of Danske Bank in Bernstorffsgade is pictured in Copenhagen, Denmark on February 12, 2025.

These crypto products are offered by leading asset managers like BlackRock and Wisdomtree, and are covered by MiFID II regulations to ensure enhanced investor protection and transparency, said Kerstin Lysholm, Danske Bank’s head of investment products and offerings.

The bank said it has launched the new investment option to meet an increasing customer demand.

“As cryptocurrencies have become a more common asset class, we are receiving an increasing number of enquiries from customers wanting the option of investing in cryptocurrencies as part of their investment portfolio," said Lysholm.

She also credited Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), the crypto regulatory framework in the European Union, for encouraging the bank to offer these products in a better-regulated market.

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"On balance, we have therefore come to the conclusion that the time is ripe for making cryptocurrency investment products available to the customers who want to invest in the asset class and who accept the very high risks involved in cryptocurrency-related investments,” she added.

Lysholm underlined that the bank considers ETPs as a “suitable solution” with clear advantages as compared to direct investments in cryptocurrencies.

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ETP offerings don’t mean a recommendation of crypto assets

The bank clarified that it doesn’t offer any advisory services for crypto investment products as it currently considers them to be “opportunistic” investments rather than long-term financial instruments.

Lysholm emphasized that the bank’s offering of crypto ETPs shouldn’t be construed as a recommendation of the asset class on the part of the bank.

The bank also underlined that crypto investments are highly volatile and customers won’t be able to invest in these ETPs using its trading platform until the bank is satisfied that the customers have sufficient experience and knowledge to understand the risks and characteristics of investing in crypto ETPs.

Bitcoin has dropped nearly 5% over the last 24 hours and was trading at $66,256.79 at press time.

Ether has dropped more than 5% to trade at $1,920.02 at press time.

Related: US Treasury, IRS clear crypto ETPs to stake and share rewards

This story was originally published by TheStreet on Feb 11, 2026, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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