Crypto adoption in Germany is expanding rapidly, led by family offices and the wealth management industry, while Britain is seeing slow market formation due to regulatory delays, Cointelegraph reported on Sept. 17.

Luke Nolan, a crypto researcher at CoinShares, assessed that Germany’s digital asset market is growing noticeably through younger investors and wealth management channels.

Nolan said Germany’s adoption trend is showing “very good progress” through family offices, wealth managers and independent advisers. He pointed to a growing younger generation seeking to invest inherited assets in digital assets as driving the expansion. That means demand in Germany is spreading beyond retail investors to the wider wealth management industry.

Germany is also ahead in institutional foundations. As of Sept. 16, the European Securities and Markets Authority’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) register shows Germany has 89 authorised crypto-asset service providers. That is 25.5 percent of the total. Germany also secured 57 crypto firms under MiCA authorisation standards in June, the highest in the European Union.

The trend is also visible among Germany’s big banks. Deutsche Bank said on Sept. 16 it is awaiting regulatory approval to launch a crypto custody service for European institutional investors. It expects the licence to be issued in October. Earlier, Germany’s largest federal bank, Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg, began an institutional crypto custody service in April 2024 in cooperation with Austria-based Bitpanda.

By contrast, Britain is still seen as being in the stage of building out its system. Nolan said, “Britain is still far behind,” and noted that it has been less than a year since the Financial Conduct Authority lifted its ban on crypto exchange-traded products. He assessed Britain’s digital asset market is still at an “early stage.” The FCA banned the sale of those products to retail investors in January 2021.

Britain has recently been detailing its regulatory framework. On Sept. 16, the FCA published final guidance on which crypto activities will require authorisation under the new regime. It will begin accepting licence applications from Sept. 30. The new system will take effect on Oct. 25, 2027, and firms seeking transitional arrangements must apply by Feb. 28, 2027.

Supervisory enforcement is also under way. The FCA said on Sept. 17 it sent cease-and-desist letters to three locations in London over suspected brokering of illegal peer-to-peer crypto transactions. Britain’s parliament approved rules in February to bring digital assets within the FCA’s supervisory remit, and in June it finalised a package of related rules and guidance.

The difference between Germany and Britain is evident in the pace of system adoption and the main participants in the market. Under MiCA, Germany is seeing participation expand in tandem among service providers and the banking sector. Britain is handling both the retail market and crackdown on illegal trading while it refines its regulatory framework. That is expected to leave open questions over which side will gain the upper hand in Europe’s crypto market and how much Britain’s new authorisation system will drive market growth.