Spanish bank BBVA to use Ripple tech for retail digital asset custody under MiCA

Spanish banking group BBVA has teamed up with Ripple to provide institutional-grade custody for Bitcoin and Ethereum to its retail customers in Spain.

Summary

• BBVA will use Ripple Custody, Ripple’s institutional-grade platform, to securely store BTC and ETH for its Spanish retail clients.
• The partnership expands BBVA’s existing custody network, which already includes Garanti BBVA in Turkey and BBVA Switzerland.

BBVA partners with Ripple for crypto custody

Spanish banking group BBVA has partnered with Ripple (XRP) to provide digital asset custody services for its retail customers in Spain. Under the agreement, BBVA will leverage Ripple Custody, Ripple’s institutional-grade digital asset self-custody platform, to securely store Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).

“Now that the EU’s Market’s in Crypto-Assets regulation (MiCA) is established across Europe, the region’s banks are emboldened to launch the digital asset offerings that their customers are asking for. BBVA has long been one of the region’s most innovative banks and we’re proud to support its ambitions with the most secure and compliant digital asset technology on the market,” said Cassie Craddock, Managing Director, Europe, at Ripple.

Ripple already provides custody tech to Garanti BBVA in Turkey and BBVA Switzerland, making Spain the latest addition to its growing network of regulated digital asset offerings for retail and institutional clients.

Meanwhile, inside sources say that Binance is also working with BBVA to hold customer digital assets off-exchange in Spain, a move designed to reduce counterparty risk and prevent situations similar to the FTX collapse. Under this arrangement, Binance will store user funds within BBVA, which can then be used as margin for trading on the exchange.