French banking group BPCE launched a service for buying and selling digital assets for some of its retail clients directly through its banking apps.
Clients of Banque Populaire, Caisse d’Epargne Côte d’Azur, and two other regional divisions of French financial conglomerate BPCE gained access to cryptocurrency operations, The Big Whale reports, citing a source within the banking group.
Currently, the service is available to roughly 2 million users. In 2026, BPCE plans to expand access to crypto operations to more of its clients, whose total number exceeds 12 million.
The initiative allows customers to trade cryptocurrencies through the Caisse d’Épargne and Banque Populaire apps using a dedicated digital asset account. Maintaining such an account costs €2.99 per month, and the transaction fee is 1.5%, but not less than €1. The service’s infrastructure is managed by Hexarq, a BPCE subsidiary responsible for crypto solutions within the group. Supported cryptocurrencies include BTC, ETH, SOL, and the USDC stablecoin.
BPCE’s initiative aims to meet the growing demand for cryptocurrencies among European users. FinTech companies such as Revolut and SoFi Technologies already serve millions of crypto users.
Banking institutions are also adjusting their strategies to market trends. For example, U.K. clearing bank ClearBank joined Circle’s payment network and is actively integrating stablecoins, BNY Mellon is testing tokenized deposits, and DBS and Goldman Sachs are exploring interbank OTC deals involving cryptocurrency options.
