BBVA has launched bitcoin and ether trading and custody services for its retail customers of legal age in Spain.

The Spanish bank, which received the green light for the move from the Spanish Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMV) in March this year, has been gradually rolling out the service over the past few weeks.

The move, which marks a significant step in the adoption of digital assets by traditional financial institutions, means that BBVA customers in Spain can now trade in bitcoin and ether through the BBVA app, which also includes the bank’s other financial services.

BBVA said the move underlines its commitment to offering its customers a seamless, fully digital experience as well as growing its digital assets business.

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.

BBVA said it will not provide investment advice on these assets, and access to the service will be exclusively customer-initiated through the app.

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 and Solana.

“We want to make it easier for our retail customers in Spain to invest in crypto-assets, through a simple and easy-to-access digital solution on their cell phone,” said Gonzalo Rodríguez, head of retail banking for Spain. “Our goal is to support them as they explore digital assets, backed by the strength and security of a bank like BBVA.”

BBVA joins other European banks entering the cryptocurrency space. Germany's Deutsche Bank is developing an Ethereum rollup with ZKsync and offering custody services with Taurus, while France's Société Générale is launching a euro stablecoin on the XRP Ledger.

Last week, BBVA announced that it has extended its partnership with Google Cloud to roll out Google Workspace with Gemini across the global operations of the bank.

As part of the move, around 100,000 employees will have access to generative AI (genAI) experiences in applications such as Gmail and Google Docs.

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