By Elizabeth Howcroft

(Reuters) - Germany's Deutsche Boerse will offer cryptocurrency custody and settlement services for institutional clients from next month, the company said on Tuesday, becoming the latest firm to offer custody management for bitcoin and ether.

The service aims to allow crypto trading from various trading venues to be settled and held in Clearstream, Deutsche Boerse's settlement business. It marks an expansion into crypto services for the German exchange, after last year it launched its own crypto trading platform for institutional investors.

From April clients will be able to use Clearstream for bitcoin and ether - the two largest cryptocurrencies - and the company is considering adding additional cryptocurrencies, based on demand. Deutsche Boerse's subsidiary Crypto Finance will act as a sub-custodian.

"Offering crypto custody is the next step on Clearstream’s journey to digitise financial markets," said Jens Hachmeister, Clearstream's head of issuer services and new digital markets.

European financial institutions are increasingly making moves in cryptocurrencies, after the European Union introduced a landmark regulatory framework, the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation (MiCA) in 2023.

The news, first reported by Bloomberg, comes after Crypto Finance obtained a MiCA licence in January.

Other custody managers to offer crypto custody services include Bank of New York Mellon, which began offering it in 2022, and State Street, which expanded its digital asset services last year.

Deutsche Boerse launched a regulated platform for institutional investors to trade cryptocurrencies in March last year, as part of a separate entity which has been merged into Deutsche Boerse's 360T subsidiary, a spokesperson for Deutsche Boerse said.

The election of Donald Trump as U.S. President last year has raised expectations of more mainstream financial institutions getting involved in crypto, and U.S. regulators this month made it easier for banks to engage in crypto activities.

Some European banks are also expanding. Spanish bank BBVA said on Monday it had received approval from the country's securities regulator to offer bitcoin and ether trading services in Spain.

Bitcoin rallied sharply following the election of Trump, but has since declined.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft in Paris; Editing by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes and Louise Heavens)

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