Marina Lyubimova
After nearly a decade of staying away from digital assets, Danske Bank just made a surprising U-turn. The Danish banking giant is now letting clients access Bitcoin and Ethereum through regulated exchange-traded products, marking a major shift in how traditional European banks are handling crypto demand.
Danske Bank Opens Door to Bitcoin and Ethereum ETPs
Danske Bank has dropped its eight-year ban on crypto-related products and started offering exchange-traded products tied to Bitcoin and Ethereum. Clients can now access three ETPs through the bank's platforms—two tracking Bitcoin and one following Ethereum. This move flips years of restrictions and puts Danske Bank alongside other major European lenders that are enabling regulated crypto exposure.
The bank says the change comes from rising customer demand and clearer regulation in Europe under the MiCA framework. Instead of handling tokens directly, Danske Bank went with listed ETP structures that fit into traditional brokerage setups clients already know. By using ETPs, the bank is giving Bitcoin and Ethereum price exposure through regulated instruments without adding direct custody to standard banking services.
The decision reflects both customer demand and the arrival of clearer regulatory frameworks in Europe, a bank representative noted.
Why This Matters for Crypto and Traditional Finance
What stands out here isn't the revenue impact—it's the policy reversal itself and how Danske Bank chose to do it. Offering multiple Bitcoin ETPs plus an Ethereum ETP shows the bank is supporting more than single-asset exposure and expanding product choice within a regulated wrapper. The bank also frames this as part of a bigger trend: large financial institutions adjusting their menus as regulatory conditions get more defined.
This shift matters because it signals accelerating normalization of crypto-linked instruments inside mainstream banking channels across Europe, with MiCA cited as a key enabler. With Danske Bank reopening the door to Bitcoin and Ethereum exposure through ETPs, the development highlights how demand and regulatory clarity are reshaping access points for digital-asset markets in traditional finance.
MiCA and the Shift Toward Institutional Crypto Adoption
The timing isn't random. Europe's MiCA regulation is pushing banks to rethink their crypto stance, creating pathways that didn't exist a few years ago. Danske Bank's move fits into a broader wave of institutional crypto adoption, where traditional players are finding regulated ways to meet client interest without taking on direct token custody risks.
As more European banks follow suit, the gap between traditional finance and digital assets keeps shrinking—and products like these ETPs are becoming the bridge.
Marina Lyubimova
