Turkey's Fifth Largest Bank Garanti BBVA Is Preparing to Offer Crypto Trading Service! Here Are the Details

Garanti BBVA Kripto, the crypto custody platform operated by Garanti BBVA from Turkey, is preparing to offer crypto trading services to the public, taking an important step in the integration of traditional banking and digital assets.

Garanti BBVA Signals Wider Adoption by European Banks by Offering Crypto Trading Services

This development highlights the increasing adoption of cryptocurrency services among European financial institutions as the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation comes into full force across the European Union.

BBVA's Crypto Targets

Garanti BBVA, Turkey’s fifth-largest bank, majority-owned by Spanish banking giant Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), has partnered with Spanish crypto exchange Bit2Me to serve as its transaction execution center.

While crypto trading services have been offered in a pilot phase since early 2024, the move to open them up to the public reflects BBVA’s broader crypto strategy.

BBVA, which has $857 billion in assets in 2023, is no newcomer to the crypto space. The bank has taken advantage of Turkey’s relatively favorable regulatory environment to test its offerings before scaling them up.

Now that MiCA is in place, BBVA and other European banks can obtain local regulatory approval to offer bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) and other cryptocurrency-related services to EU customers.

A Broader Trend in European Banking

BBVA’s move is part of a larger trend, according to Bit2Me’s Sales Director Abel Pena. “In 2025, we will see many banks across Europe offering crypto Spot trading to their users,” Pena said in an interview.

He noted that Bit2Me is in talks with more than 50 financial institutions around the world, with many of them expected to launch crypto services by early 2025.

*This is not investment advice.