More and more companies are joining the crypto gold rush in Europe as the market continues to adjust to the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulations.
The latest move has seen BBVA, a Spain-based multinational financial services company, launching a Bitcoin exchange in its founding market. The firm confirmed this week that it has received approval from Spain’s National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).
The exchange will enable its users to buy, sell and manage Bitcoin, while the Spanish launch marks the third market where the platform has gone live following Switzerland and Türkiye in 2021 and 2023.
BBVA has utilised its own cryptographic key custody platform to support the exchange, which it states has improved safeguarding over customer’s cryptoassets and curbed any potential reliance on third parties.
Gonzalo Rodríguez, Head of Retail Banking in Spain, said: “We want to make it easier for our customers to invest in cryptoassets with a simple, accessible offering available directly from their mobile phones, in a fully digital manner.
“Our goal is to guide them as they explore this new segment of digital assets, backed by the solvency and security assurances provided by a bank like BBVA.”
The MiCA regulations were first adopted by the European Parliament in April 2023 and the final deadline for firms to comply with requirements passed at the start of this year. The final implementation had been eagerly awaited by many stakeholders.
Of significance to many EU crypto stakeholders is the levelling out of regulations across the EU’s 27 companies. It has also been widely expected that the regulations would open up opportunities in the European stablecoin space.
BBVA is not the first and most certainly will not be the last company to expand its crypto activity in Europe in the new MiCA landscape. Notable movers recently have included Robinhood and eToro, with the former also launching its crypto product in Spain late last year, while the latter is looking to expand its crypto footprint throughout the EU.
“We believe that the regulatory clarity and uniform market rules provided by MiCA will foster greater crypto adoption across Europe while ensuring consumers are fully aware of any associated risks,” said Avi Sela, Chief Operating Officer – Regulation at eToro.
In BBVA’s case, the bank states that it has been researching how blockchain can transform financial services ‘for over a decade’ – like other stakeholders, it seems that regulatory developments like MiCA have finally provided the firm the ideal circumstances to make its ambitions a reality.
The moves come amid a global shift in regulatory attitudes on crypto. The US is the most notable example of this, with the pro-crypto administration of Donald Trump ushering in significant changes in how regulators approach crypto at the federal level.
