European financial institutions are set to introduce cryptocurrency services for their clients within the EU, as reported by the Spanish crypto platform Bit2Me.
Key points to note:
- Garanti BBVA Kripto customers will soon have the ability to trade cryptocurrencies.
- Bit2Me, the exchange facilitating these trades, indicates that numerous European banks are preparing to launch similar offerings for their clients in the EU.
- The Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation became fully effective on December 30.
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), a major Spanish bank, is expanding its involvement in the cryptocurrency sector. Garanti BBVA Kripto, a crypto custody service managed by Garanti BBVA—Turkey’s fifth-largest bank, which BBVA nearly wholly owns—will soon allow the public to engage in crypto trading. The trading operations will be executed through Bit2Me, a Spanish crypto exchange established in 2014.
With the MiCA regulation now in effect across the EU, the collaboration between BBVA and Bit2Me signals that more developments are on the way, according to Abel Peña, Bit2Me’s chief sales officer. “I anticipate that by 2025, numerous banks throughout Europe will provide crypto spot trading to their clients,” Peña shared with CoinDesk. “We are in close communication with over 50 financial institutions, including banks across Europe and beyond, and they are expected to launch their services in the first quarter of 2025.”
As of 2023, BBVA managed assets worth $857 billion, ranking as the 43rd largest bank globally and the second largest in Spain after Banco Santander. Although Garanti BBVA Kripto has been promoting crypto trading services on its website since January 2024, these offerings were initially limited to a pilot program and not available to the general public, according to Bit2Me.
BBVA’s entry into the crypto market in Turkey was facilitated by a favorable regulatory landscape, Peña noted. With the completion of MiCA’s rollout on December 30, institutions like BBVA can now seek approval from local regulators to provide access to Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and other cryptocurrencies for their European clientele. “Once they receive the go-ahead, they will proceed,” Peña stated, adding that many of these banks are already integrated with their platform, though he refrained from naming specific institutions.
What has sparked this newfound enthusiasm for crypto within the banking sector? Peña attributed part of the excitement to the regulatory clarity offered by MiCA, but also mentioned the influence of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who became a prominent advocate for cryptocurrency during his campaign and achieved significant electoral success in November. Additionally, discussions around establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve for the U.S. government have contributed to the momentum.
The remarkable performance of U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, which have attracted a staggering $35 billion in inflows in under a year, has also played a role. “We’re dealing with an asset [Bitcoin] that many individuals and companies are eager to invest in. This is something that banks can no longer overlook,” Peña remarked.
BBVA is not the first European bank to explore the crypto space. Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest multinational investment bank, is developing a rollup on Ethereum utilizing ZKsync technology and has been collaborating with Swiss startup Taurus on crypto custody and tokenization services since 2023. Meanwhile, French financial services firm Société Générale has established its own crypto division, SG-FORGE, which recently announced plans to launch its euro stablecoin on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) network.