Binance and Spanish Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) reportedly formed a partnership allowing clients to trade on the exchange and secure their loot at the bank’s vaults. The news comes shortly after the exchange disclosed its “Banking Triparty” custody solution.
The unsubstantiated reports claim that the BBVA is just one of the few independent regulated custodians for Binance. The exchange introduced a TradFi-modeled custody solution to “Binancians” on July 24. Binance’s “institutional off-exchange settlement service” allows clients to hold tokenized RWAs as “off-exchange collateral.” Neither Binance nor BBVA has yet made official statements about these allegations.
However, Binance confirmed that clients could use yield-bearing, stable tokenized assets as collateral through MirrorRSV and Banking Triparty. The exchange claimed that it aimed to “optimize capital efficiency.” The news comes as traditional banks reportedly show “greater willingness” to dive into the crypto space amid the rollout of “clearer regulations” in the EU and the U.S.
BBVA holds client funds in U.S. Treasuries
Client funds will also be held in U.S. Treasuries in the Binance-BBVA arrangement. The exchange will then accept the treasury bills “as margin” for trades. Binance started offering these third-party custody solutions in early 2024 through Switzerland’s FlowBank and Sygnum. The exchange allegedly claimed its BBVA partnership was structured to avoid the 2022 FTX scenario.
The Spanish lender recently urged its wealthy clients to allocate up to 7% of their portfolios to crypto. Philippe Meyer, the Head of Digital & Blockchain Solutions at BBVA’s Switzerland branch, said the clientele could invest between 3% and 7% of their portfolios in crypto. However, he cautioned that the allocations depended on the clients’ “risk appetite.”
“With private customers, since September last year, we started advising on bitcoin…The riskier profile, we allow up to 7% of (portfolios in) crypto.” – Philippe Meyer, Head of Digital & Blockchain Solutions at BBVA Switzerland
The BBVA executive also argued that his bank was among the first large multinational financial institutions to offer client crypto advice. He mentioned that the bank had always executed client requests to invest in digital assets. Meyer believes that a 3% allocation does not present too much risk to client portfolios. He claimed that 3% balanced a portfolio and boosted its performance.
Rodriguez says BBVA will make retail crypto trading easy
In July, Gonzalo Rodriguez, BBVA’s Head of Retail Banking in Spain, said banks like BBVA helped retail investors explore digital assets easily. He added that Spanish retail investors could access crypto through simplified “easy-to-access digital solutions” on their smartphone apps.
The Head of Digital Assets at BBVA, Francisco Maroto, pointed out the bank’s progress in crypto since it launched its Digital Assets service in Switzerland in 2021. The service was then introduced in Turkey in 2023. Maroto stressed that his bank would continue growing its “digital assets business,” with crypto and traditional tokenized assets like funds and bonds.
BBVA claims over 10 years of experience in the crypto landscape. According to the bank’s July 4 statement, Spain was the third market where BBVA offered regulated digital asset services. It also pointed out that its Turkish Garanti BBVA branch had set up “a specialized company” offering Bitcoin, Chiliz, Solana, Ether, Avax, USDC, and XRP.
Maroto said BBVA’s mission was to offer “the best investment and transaction-based solutions” to its clients. Spanish customers can manage their crypto assets through the bank-sponsored app. Bitcoin and Ether will be ordered directly in the app, alongside “regular banking activities.” Onur Guven, the CEO of Garanti BBVA Crypto, emphasized the increasing importance of crypto. He added that his bank aimed to provide a “seamless user experience” as it ventured into crypto.
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