ChainThink News, December 26: ABN AMRO, a Dutch bank, has achieved a pivotal advancement in the digital assets space. Its German subsidiary, Hauck Aufhäuser Digital Custody, has received authorization under the EU's Markets in Crypto-assets Regulation (MiCAR), becoming one of the early institutions approved to offer crypto-asset custody and trading services to institutional clients within the harmonized EU regulatory framework.

MiCAR officially came into effect on December 30, 2024. With approval from Germany’s financial regulator BaFin, the subsidiary is now authorized to custody and manage crypto-assets for clients and plans to progressively "passport" these services across other EU member states as part of ABN AMRO’s broader European digital assets strategy.

Meanwhile, ABN AMRO successfully completed its first cross-border over-the-counter (OTC) smart derivative contract (SDC) transaction with DZ BANK. Built on blockchain technology, the 10-day contract executed settlement, valuation, and collateral management entirely on-chain, while daily cash payments were processed via SEPA Instant and automatically reconciled back into the smart contract, significantly enhancing transparency and operational efficiency.

ABN AMRO stated that the SDC leverages pre-defined market data and interest rate curves to effectively mitigate common counterparty disputes and settlement complexities inherent in traditional OTC derivatives. DZ BANK affirmed that this transaction establishes an industry-grade paradigm for the full digital settlement of OTC derivatives, substantially reducing counterparty risk.