Germany's Largest Bank Posts Q1 Profits Lower Than Major Crypto Exchange Binance’s Q2, Q3

Deutsche Bank has released its first-quarter net profits of €120 mln ($146 mln), down 79 percent from last year, CNBC reported today, April 26. The net profits make the  Frankfurt-based,148-year old institution less profitable than the world’ top crypto exchange, Binance.

Less than a year old, and currently the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trade volume Binance has to date posted quarterly profits higher than that of Deutsche Bank. On March 3, Binance’s CEO Changpeng Zhao, better know as CZ in the crypto industry, reported $200 mln in profits in the first ever second-quarter in the life of the exchange:

“In the first 3 months from inception, profits amounted to $7,500,000 USD. In the 2nd quarter, profits amounted to $200,000,000. ….Binance is aggressively recruiting, and is projected to recruit over 2000 employees this year alone, and even more next year.”

Binance’s official update this month reported third quarterly net profits of $150 mln, marginally higher than Deutsche Bank’s first quarter figures.

According to Reuters, Deutsche Bank fired 300 U.S.-based investment bankers yesterday, and plans to significantly reduce its workforce – by the end of this week, another 100 employees will have lost their jobs, as the Financial Times further reported.

Zhao had previously declined requests from Bloomberg News to grant access to Binance’s financial statements, or to provide proof of his personal wealth, which he claims is as much as $2 bln.

Deutsche Bank’s woes are not shared by all traditional financial sector players: JPMorgan Chase’s first-quarter 2018 net earnings this year were reported at $8.7 bln and Goldman Sachs’s at $2.83 bln. JPMorgan is currently testing a Blockchain platform for issuing financial instruments, but remains wary of cryptocurrencies, allegedly regarding them as innovative, yet also as a disruptive source of “competition” and “risk” to its business. Just this week, Goldman Sachs hired a crypto trader as vice president of digital asset markets in their securities division.