French banking heavyweight BPCE is getting ready to introduce crypto buying and selling to hundreds of thousands of its retail prospects, making it one of many first main conventional European banks to supply digital property.
In accordance to a report from The Large Whale, the group will enable customers to purchase and promote Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Solana (SOL) and USDC (USDC) instantly inside its Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Épargne cellular apps beginning Monday.
The preliminary rollout will cowl purchasers of 4 regional banks, together with Banque Populaire Île-de-France and Caisse d’Épargne Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, reaching roughly 2 million prospects. BPCE plans to prolong the service steadily throughout its remaining 25 regional entities by 2026, finally making crypto buying and selling accessible to its full 12-million-strong retail base.
A financial institution insider reportedly advised The Large Whale that the phased strategy is meant to “monitor how the service performs at launch” earlier than scaling.
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BPCE rolls out paid in-app crypto accounts
Crypto purchases and gross sales will probably be dealt with by a devoted digital asset account inside the banking apps, managed by Hexarq, BPCE’s crypto subsidiary, per the report. The account carries a 2.99 euros ($3.48) month-to-month payment and a 1.5% fee per commerce, with a minimal of $1.16. Customers will probably be ready to entry the service with no need exterior exchanges or third-party wallets.
BPCE’s transfer comes as competitors intensifies throughout Europe between conventional banks and crypto-friendly fintechs akin to Revolut, Deblock, Bitstack and Commerce Republic, all of that are providing entry to digital property.
A number of European establishments have additionally taken related steps. BBVA allows Spanish customers to purchase, promote and maintain Bitcoin and Ether instantly inside its app, backed by in-house custody. Santander’s digital arm Openbank offers trading and custody for 5 cryptocurrencies, whereas Raiffeisen Financial institution’s Vienna-based unit partnered with Bitpanda to bring crypto services to its retail purchasers.
Cointelegraph reached out to BPCE for remark, however had not obtained a response by publication.
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France to tax crypto as “unproductive wealth”
Final month, French lawmakers narrowly approved an amendment that may prolong the nation’s wealth tax to cowl “unproductive property,” together with sure actual property, luxurious objects, and digital property akin to crypto.
Underneath the modification, people holding greater than $2.3 million in qualifying “unproductive wealth” would face a brand new flat 1% tax, a shift from as we speak’s progressive actual property wealth tax. The expanded taxable base consists of digital property. The proposal should nonetheless go the Senate as a part of the 2026 finances course of earlier than turning into legislation.
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