TechFlow news, according to CoinDesk, Spanish financial giant Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) has received approval from Spanish financial regulators to offer its clients bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) trading services. This approval comes as the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) fully takes effect, marking the culmination of the Spanish bank's years-long efforts to provide digital asset services to its customers.
As early as 2020, BBVA planned to enter the crypto space but was waiting for regulatory approval due to MiCA not yet being implemented. The bank initially intended to launch its crypto services from Switzerland rather than Spain or other EU countries, as Switzerland already had clear digital asset regulations under the framework of the Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). In January this year, BBVA launched crypto trading services locally through its Turkish subsidiary.
BBVA is not the first European bank to enter the crypto market. Germany's Deutsche Bank is collaborating with ZKsync to develop an Ethereum scaling solution and partnering with Taurus to offer custody services; while France's Société Générale's SG-FORGE is launching a euro-denominated stablecoin on the XRP Ledger.
