Spain’s second-largest bank, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) will soon enable customers to buy, sell and manage Bitcoin and Ethereum transactions via its app.
The service will initially be rolled out to “a small group of users” and gradually extended to all the bank’s private customers in Spain over the coming months.
The move follows BBVA satisfying all the requirements of the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) and completing the necessary formalities with the Spanish Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMV).
The bank didn’t mention when it plans to roll out the service for customers other than those who signed up for private banking, meaning the new features are only relevant for those who can prove they meet the bank’s wealth requirements, at least in the short term.
BBVA has offered similar services in Switzerland since 2021, but again only to the group’s private banking customers, and in Turkey (through its Garanti BBVA Kripto subsidiary) since January 2025.
Banks and crypto
With the exception of Revolut, which has been offering crypto trading to retail consumers in many markets as far back as 2017, it’s still fairly unusual to see a mainstream bank offer crypto trading for non-institutional clients. BBVA is among the largest European banks by assets.
Some banks already offer a mix of crypto trading and traditional banking services, such as Switzerland’s Dukascopy Bank, but many, like Switzerland’s AMINA, brand themselves explicitly as “crypto banks.”
But even if they’re not offering crypto trading to their clients directly, more established historical European banks are offering crypto services now that the introduction of MiCA has provided more regulatory clarity.
Last month, multinational bank Standard Chartered announced a new entity based in Luxembourg, offering crypto and digital asset custody services in the European Union.
Meanwhile, other recognizable European banks are making significant Bitcoin purchases to add to their corporate treasuries. In January, Italy’s largest bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, purchased 11 BTC worth €1 million euros ($1 million), becoming the first Italian bank to make a direct investment in the cryptocurrency.
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