Share this article
Spanish Bank BBVA Gets Green Light to Offer BTC and ETH Trading: Report
BBVA had been working on allowing crypto trading services since 2020.
Updated Mar 10, 2025, 2:54 p.m. Published Mar 10, 2025, 6:01 a.m.
What to know:
- Spanish financial giant Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) has received approval from Spain's financial regulator to offer bitcoin and ether trading to its clients, as the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation takes effect across the European Union.
- This approval concludes a multi-year process for BBVA to allow its clients to gain exposure to digital assets.
- BBVA, which launched crypto trading in Turkey in January, is not the first European bank to enter the crypto market, with Deutsche Bank and Société Générale also offering crypto-related services.
Spanish financial giant Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) has gotten approval from the country's financial regulator to offer and ether trading to its clients, according to a Reuters report.
The approval come as the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation takes full effect across the European Union. This approval for BBVA marks the conclusion of a multi-year process for the Spanish lender to allow for its clients to get exposure to digital assets.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
In 2020, CoinDesk reported that BBVA planned to dip its toes in the sector, pending regulatory approval because MiCA wasn't yet in place.
BBVA initially planned to launch its crypto services from Switzerland rather than Spain or other EU countries because Switzerland already had a clear regulatory framework for digital assets under the Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA).
Advertisement
In January, BBVA launched crypto trading in Turkey through a local subsidiary.
BBVA isn’t the first European bank to enter crypto, with Germany's Deutsche Bank developing an Ethereum rollup with ZKsync and offering custody with Taurus, while Société Générale’s SG-FORGE is launching a euro stablecoin on the XRP Ledger, CoinDesk previously reported.
More For You
Exchange Review - March 2025
CoinDesk Data's monthly Exchange Review captures the key developments within the cryptocurrency exchange market. The report includes analyses that relate to exchange volumes, crypto derivatives trading, market segmentation by fees, fiat trading, and more.
What to know:
Trading activity softened in March as market uncertainty grew amid escalating tariff tensions between the U.S. and global trading partners. Centralized exchanges recorded their lowest combined trading volume since October, declining 6.24% to $6.79tn. This marked the third consecutive monthly decline across both market segments, with spot trading volume falling 14.1% to $1.98tn and derivatives trading slipping 2.56% to $4.81tn.
- Trading Volumes Decline for Third Consecutive Month: Combined spot and derivatives trading volume on centralized exchanges fell by 6.24% to $6.79tn in March 2025, reaching the lowest level since October. Both spot and derivatives markets recorded their third consecutive monthly decline, falling 14.1% and 2.56% to $1.98tn and $4.81tn respectively.
- Institutional Crypto Trading Volume on CME Falls 23.5%: In March, total derivatives trading volume on the CME exchange fell by 23.5% to $175bn, the lowest monthly volume since October 2024. CME's market share among derivatives exchanges dropped from 4.63% to 3.64%, suggesting declining institutional interest amid current macroeconomic conditions.
- Bybit Spot Market Share Slides in March: Spot trading volume on Bybit fell by 52.1% to $81.1bn in March, coinciding with decreased trading activity following the hack of the exchange's cold wallets in February. Bybit's spot market share dropped from 7.35% to 4.10%, its lowest since July 2023.
More For You
Top Stories
