Coinspeaker
Spanish Banking Giant BBVA Expands Crypto Service with USDC Stablecoin
Spanish banking giant BBVA announced today the expansion of its crypto services in Switzerland to include Circle’s USDC stablecoin for institutional traders.
The company, which first entered the crypto market in 2021, said USDC will be traded alongside its existing offerings: Bitcoin BTC $54 990 24h volatility: 1.5% Market cap: $1.08 T Vol. 24h: $28.15 B and Ethereum ETH $2 283 24h volatility: 0.6% Market cap: $274.35 B Vol. 24h: $13.06 B , which were introduced shortly after its debut in response to growing demand.
Expanding Crypto Access for Institutional Clients
According to the announcement on September 9, the bank’s institutional customers in Switzerland as well as other high-profile clients including those using its NewGen account, will now be able to manage USDC on the same platform they use for traditional investments.
This integration marks BBVA’s third major digital asset offering, allowing clients to exchange, custody, or convert USDC into euros, dollars, or any other supported currency in near real-time.
The bank has already teamed up with Metaco, a blockchain infrastructure provider to leverage its Harmonize platform to securely custody and manage users’ assets in December 2023. At the time, BBVA said the deal would lay the groundwork for expanding its range of crypto services in the future, to meet the growing needs of institutional clients.
With Harmonize serving as its custody partner, the company has brought the USDC stablecoin to a variety of corporate investors, fund managers, private banking clients, and large companies, simplifying their access to crypto markets and trading operations.
BBVA also disclosed that the integration of the USDC stablecoin will enable their clients to speed up their trading operations by enabling them to transfer value more efficiently with blockchain. Additionally, the secure vault system provided by BBVA ensures that clients’ stablecoins are held with the highest levels of security, further enhancing trust in the bank’s crypto services.
Opening the Door to New Opportunities
Through the new offering, the bank’s customers will have the opportunity to explore the crypto market, purchase their desired offerings that would normally be unavailable on traditional financial platforms.
“We want to offer our private clients simple access to the tokenized products they are most interested in and cannot access through traditional financial institutions,” said Philippe Meyer, head of blockchain solutions at the bank.
The bank believes that USDC’s stability, being pegged to the US dollar, provides an attractive alternative for clients looking to mitigate the volatility commonly associated with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The Spanish company also revealed it has extended USDC services to its Turkish customers through Garanti BBVA Digital Assets. In addition to USDC, clients in Türkiye can trade bitcoin, Ether, and AVAX, and custody Chiliz funds through the bank’s crypto asset trading platform.
By broadening its crypto services in multiple regions, the bank aims to strengthen its foothold in the digital asset space while providing institutional and retail clients with a more diversified and secure crypto trading experience.
Spanish Banking Giant BBVA Expands Crypto Service with USDC Stablecoin
