UniCredit Eyes Digital Asset Custody and Brokerage Expansion

Highlights:

• UniCredit is exploring digital asset custody and brokerage services as it expands deeper into crypto infrastructure.
• The Italian banking group already offers crypto-linked products and has invested in blockchain and tokenization projects.
• Its wider strategy also includes Bitcoin and Ether products, stablecoin plans, and blockchain-based financial services.

UniCredit, one of Italy’s largest banking groups, is looking to expand further into digital assets as it explores custody and brokerage technology. The move could take the bank beyond its existing crypto-linked investment products and deeper into the infrastructure used to hold and trade digital assets.

Bloomberg reported the development on September 11, as UniCredit continues to build its broader digital asset strategy. The bank has already been active in blockchain-based finance, tokenization and crypto-linked products, while also taking part in a European stablecoin initiative.

A digital asset custody service allows a bank to securely hold crypto assets or tokenized financial instruments for clients. Brokerage, meanwhile, would provide the infrastructure needed to buy and sell those assets. For UniCredit, adding these capabilities could bring more of the digital asset process under its existing banking platform.

UniCredit is considering expanding its offerings in digital assets, including early-stage plans to build out its custody and brokerage capabilities https://t.co/9u6ytGv8m3

— Bloomberg (@business) September 11, 2026

UniCredit Builds Out Its Digital Asset Business

The latest move follows several steps UniCredit has taken this year to increase its presence in digital finance. In April, the bank invested €4 million in BlockInvest and acquired roughly a 16% stake in the blockchain technology company. BlockInvest provides infrastructure for issuing financial instruments on blockchain networks. UniCredit said the investment would help it expand tokenized financial products across its main European markets.

The two companies had already worked together on Italy’s first natively digital minibond and a tokenized structured note issued on a public blockchain. Those projects gave UniCredit practical experience with blockchain-based issuance rather than limiting its work to early-stage experiments.

More recently, UniCredit acquired a minority stake in German fintech VC Trade on September 8. The company runs digital infrastructure for debt transactions, including syndicated loans and Schuldscheine. UniCredit said the investment forms part of its wider effort to modernize European capital markets through automation and emerging digital asset technology.

Crypto Custody Could Add Another Piece to UniCredit’s Strategy

Custody and brokerage would add another layer to that strategy. Instead of only offering financial products linked to crypto or issuing assets on blockchain networks, UniCredit could build technology to support the storage and trading side of digital assets.

The bank already provides indirect crypto exposure in some markets through exchange-traded products and has developed capital-protected products linked to Bitcoin. Its 2025 disclosures also showed that eligible brokerage clients could access Bitcoin and Ether futures listed on regulated exchanges.

UniCredit is also involved in Qivalis, a European banking initiative working on a euro-denominated stablecoin. The project is designed to support on-chain payments and settlement under Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, or MiCA. UniCredit has previously said participating banks could eventually provide related services such as stablecoin wallets and custody.

The latest reported custody and brokerage plans therefore fit into a broader shift already underway at the bank. UniCredit is gradually building across tokenization, digital money, crypto investment products and blockchain infrastructure as regulated digital assets become a larger part of European finance.