BBVA now offers custody for cryptocurrencies purchased on Binance

BBVA has reached an agreement with Binance and will now store and manage cryptocurrencies purchased by its customers through that platform.

The increase in regulation surrounding the cryptocurrency market is notable, along with the growing appetite for them worldwide. This is particularly evident in the case of Binance, the platform that records the highest transaction volume among the various operators in the sector.

These factors have led a number of traditional financial institutions to invest in these assets, while others offer their services for secure custody outside of the platforms where cryptocurrencies can be purchased.

The Spanish bank falls into the latter category, as do several other European examples, two of which are in the Portuguese market: Bison Bank and Banco Carregosa. At the EU level, several countries have already transposed the Markets in Cryptoassets Regulation (MiCA), issued by the European Commission (Spain is the case), but others, including Portugal, have not yet done so.

BBVA obtained its license in March and launched cryptocurrency exchange services in the Spanish market on July 7th.

This Friday, Binance, through a statement published on its website, citing the Financial Times, announced that customers of the Spanish bank who purchase cryptocurrencies through Binance can now deposit them at BBVA.

The decision follows others taken primarily by US banks. JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup are among the examples, as is DBS Bank (based in Singapore).

This is a process of decentralizing the digital currency market, which began strongly in the US and, over the years, has become increasingly global. This process allows investors to see their assets placed in institutions they consider trustworthy, after the collapse of FTX (a former cryptocurrency trading platform) in 2022 raised enormous fears, which have not yet completely dissipated.