Spanish financial giant Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) has received approval from Spain’s financial regulator to offer trading in bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) to its clients, coinciding with the implementation of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation across the European Union. This approval marks the culmination of a multi-year effort by BBVA to enable its clients to access digital assets.
BBVA, which began its foray into cryptocurrency trading in Turkey earlier this year, is not alone in the European banking sector’s embrace of crypto. Other banks, such as Deutsche Bank and Société Générale, have also started offering related services.
In 2020, CoinDesk reported on BBVA’s interest in entering the crypto space, awaiting regulatory approval as MiCA was not yet in effect. Initially, the bank considered launching its crypto services from Switzerland, where a clear regulatory framework for digital assets exists under the Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), instead of Spain or other EU nations.
This January, BBVA successfully launched crypto trading in Turkey through a local subsidiary. As it steps into the crypto market, BBVA joins other European banks, including Deutsche Bank, which is developing an Ethereum rollup with ZKsync and providing custody services with Taurus, and Société Générale’s SG-FORGE, which is launching a euro stablecoin on the XRP Ledger, as previously reported by CoinDesk.
