The Spanish banking giants CaixaBank, Kutxabank, and Renta 4 are set to follow BBVA into the crypto sector, and plan to start offering clients cryptoasset-related services, a report has claimed.
Per El Español, many traditional banking sector firms are now eyeing the crypto market after the European Union’s MiCA regulations came into force late last year.
MiCA has reportedly “opened the door for banks to start offering the custody and the sale of crypto,” the outlet wrote.
CaixaBank Confirms Crypto Plans, Report Claims
BBVA announced its own plans to launch Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) trading services earlier this week.
However, El Español claimed that a number of other major Spanish banking players, including Bankinter, Sabadell, Unicaja, and MyInvestor said they were “not working on” launching crypto-related services.
The Bankinter headquarters in Madrid, Spain. (Source: Luis García CC BY-SA 3.0 es)
Santander and its subsidiary Openbank, meanwhile, “refused to comment” on their own crypto plans.
BBVA will begin offering custody and sales for BTC and ETH via its mobile application later this year.
The bank has completed authorization protocols with the Spanish regulator, the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).
The new regulations provided companies that already offer crypto trading with a year to complete their own registration protocols.
The media outlet added that the CNMV “is now working” on the applications from three other financial services operators.
While the four firms’ foray into the Spanish crypto scene represents an adoption milestone, the same newspaper noted:
“We are not seeing an avalanche of applications from banks. The supervisor is only currently working to process four applications.”
The media outlet said it had been able to “confirm” that one of the applications was from Renta 4.
The other two, however, come from “non-banking platforms,” El Español wrote.
CaixaBank and Kutxabank Have Not Yet Filed Applications
Spokespeople from CaixaBank and Kutxabank told the media outlet they were still “working” on plans to offer crypto trading.
But the spokespeople confirmed the two banks are yet to file their CNMV applications.
CaixaBank said that it was “studying the idea” of “launching cryptoasset services in Spain this year.”
The CaixaBank offices in Barcelona, Spain. (Source: Jordiferrer [CC BY-SA 3.0])
The same bank said its crypto offerings would be “especially interesting” for “young investors who are keen on technology and innovation.”
Kutxabank, meanwhile, said that it hopes to offer its clients crypto custody, purchase, and sale options. It confirmed that it was “already working on” its CNMV application.
By most estimations, CaixaBank is Spain’s third-largest bank. As of September 2024, its total asset holdings were worth around 520 billion euros ($568 billion).
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