Austrian bank Raiffeisen Bank will provide cryptocurrency trading services to retail clients by the end of January 2024. The service will initially be offered to customers in Vienna, where the 97-year-old bank is headquartered, and be provided in conjunction with cryptocurrency exchange Bitpanda, which signed a letter of intent with the bank earlier this year.
The move by the bank, which has about $215 billion in assets and 17.8 million customers in the European Union and Eastern Europe, is another sign of rapid cryptocurrency adoption, especially in jurisdictions where there is greater clarity on regulations. According to Curt CHADHA, the bank’s head of innovation, the service is aimed at customers who are digitally savvy but may only want to make small investments, unlike offerings from other banks that target wealthy individuals willing to invest millions.
Founded in Vienna in 2014, Bitpanda is regulated by the FMA in Austria and BaFin in Germany and allows firms to offer regulated trading, investment and custody services for stocks/ETFs, cryptocurrencies, precious metals and commodities.
Image: Ledger Insights
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