The invention relates to DMC catalysts which comprise at least 10% by weight, based on the weight of the DMC catalysts, of a crystalline multimetal cyanide compound whose X-ray diffractogram shows sharp reflections at least at the d values of 11.4 ű0.5 Å 8.9 ű0.5 Å 6.3 ű0.5 Å 5.8 ű0.5 Å 5.5 ű0.5 Å 4.5 ű0.5 Å 4.4 ű0.5 Å 3.9 ű0.4 Å 3.7 ű0.4 Å 3.4 ű0.4 Å.