Spanish Bank BBVA Granted Permission to Trade BTC and ETH: Report
BBVA has been working to obtain permission to trade cryptocurrencies since 2020.
Sam Reynolds | Edited by Parikshit Mishra on 10 Mar 2025 6:01 UTC
Key points:
- Spanish financial giant Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) has received approval from the Spanish financial regulator to offer Bitcoin and Ethereum trading services to its clients following the entry into force of the Crypto-Asset Markets Regulation across the European Union.
- This authorization completes years of work by BBVA to provide its clients with access to digital assets.
- BBVA, which launched cryptocurrency trading in Turkey in January, is not the first European bank to enter the cryptocurrency market: Deutsche Bank and Société Générale also offer crypto-related services.
Spanish financial giant Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) has received approval from the country's financial regulator to offer its clients bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) trading services, Reuters reports.
The approval comes as the Markets in Cryptocurrency Regulation (MiCA) is now in full force and effect across the European Union. For BBVA, the approval marks the end of a multi-year process that has allowed the Spanish lender to provide its clients with access to digital assets.
In 2020, CoinDesk reported that BBVA was planning to enter the sector, pending regulatory approval as MiCA had not yet been passed.
BBVA initially intended to launch its crypto services from Switzerland, rather than from Spain or other EU countries, as Switzerland already had a clear regulatory framework for digital assets under the Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA).
In January, BBVA launched cryptocurrency trading in Turkey through its local subsidiary.
BBVA is not the first European bank to enter the cryptocurrency market: Germany's Deutsche Bank is developing an Ethereum integration with ZKsync and offering custody services through Taurus, and Société Générale's SG-FORGE is launching a euro stablecoin on the XRP Ledger, as CoinDesk previously reported.
