Spain’s second largest bank begins holding bitcoin for customers

a Swiss branch from the Spanish Bank Bilbao Vizcaya Argentina (BBVA) will start serving storage and trading Bitcoin For your private customers from Monday, June 21.

Initially, the offer will only be applied to Bitcoin, but other digital currencies are planned to be added in the future. At the same time, the bank warned that its new service will not advise on investments in cryptocurrency.

With Bitcoin being part of the bank’s investments, BBVA’s private clients will be able to see the performance of their positions in the digital currency along with traditional financial assets, and this will be possible thanks to a special service integration in the banking app.

Save and transfer bitcoins in the second largest bank in Spain

According to a statement by BBVA, the bank’s clients will not have difficulty in preparing financial reports. Moreover, they will be able to automatically convert Bitcoin into fiat currencies and vice versa to avoid losses due to exchange rate fluctuation.

CEO of BBVA Switzerland, Alfonso Gomez, He said The bank launched the service after a test that lasted nearly six months.

During the tests, the bank’s experts were able to better understand the risks associated with cryptocurrencies.

According to Gomes, the service will determine the interest of Bitcoin to bank customers as a tool for diversifying their investment portfolio, despite the high level of risk and volatility in cryptocurrencies.

The financial institution decided to launch the new service after realizing the desire of many investors to diversify their portfolios with digital assets, despite the potential risks and market volatility.

According to the BBVA announcement, access to the new services will be open to all customers without exception.

The decisive factor in which the bank decided to provide these services was the friendly attitude of the state towards the cryptocurrency industry. In May, Swiss bank UBS also announced its willingness to give its clients the opportunity to invest in cryptocurrency.

This week, another local bank, Sygnum, announced the upcoming launch of its DeFi token trading and custody services for institutional investors.

Regarding the launch of similar services in other countries, BBVA said that everything will depend on the maturity, level of demand and regulation of the market.