BBVA Unveils Cryptocurrency Trading in Spain

Cryptocurrency trading is catching up with the European banking sector as Spanish bank BBVA has unveiled its cryptocurrency trading and custody service for bitcoin and ether, which is now available to all retail customers of legal age in Spain.

After filing the relevant disclosure with the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), the bank has been gradually rolling out the service in recent weeks. Customers can now use this service to trade in bitcoin and ether directly through the BBVA app, all within a fully integrated environment that also includes the bank’s other financial services.

Right now, BBVA retail customers in Spain can buy, sell, and hold bitcoin and ether directly via the mobile app, as a further show of the bank’s firm commitment to offering a seamless, fully digital experience.

The initiative is aligned with the European Regulation on Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA), which governs the issuance and provision of crypto-asset services within the European Union and provides additional safeguards and protection for investors. The bank will not provide investment advice on these assets, and access to the service will be exclusively customer-initiated through the app.

Easier for Crypto Investors

Gonzalo Rodríguez, BBVA’s Head of Retail Banking for Spain, said that they wanted to make it easier for their retail customers in Spain to invest in crypto-assets, through a simple and easy-to-access digital solution on their cell phone.

“Our goal is to support them as they explore digital assets, backed by the strength and security of a bank like BBVA,” he said.

BBVA boasts over a decade of experience in blockchain technology. In 2021, the bank launched a bitcoin trading desk and custody service for private banking clients in Switzerland, which was later expanded to include Ether and the stablecoin USDC.

In 2023, Garanti BBVA in Turkey set up a specialised company that now offers a wide range of crypto-assets, including Bitcoin, Ether, USDC, Solana, XRP, AVAX, and Chiliz, among others. Spain is now the third market where BBVA is busy scaling up its range of digital assets, backed by a robust, secure, and regulation-compliant infrastructure.

Francisco Maroto, Head of Digital Assets at BBVA, said that following this launch in Spain, BBVA has added another country to its digital assets service, which was first introduced in Switzerland in 2021, followed by Turkey in 2023.

“Mirroring BBVA’s leadership in digitisation and innovation, we are continuing to grow our digital assets business, both with new assets (crypto or stablecoins) and with traditional assets in tokenized form (bonds, funds). Our aim is to offer the best investment and transaction-based solutions to our customers,” he remarked.