According to the Financial Times, Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has chosen Spanish bank BBVA as its custody provider.
Spain’s third largest bank, BBVA recently began offering its services as one of the few independent custodians. The move aims to alleviate investors’ concerns about the exchange’s security, particularly following the FTX bankruptcy in 2022.
With this partnership, Binance has allowed customers to maintain assets in the bank rather than exchanges.
Binance previously required that customers only store assets in Binance or its subsidiary Ceffu.
But Binance’s stance was early last year that allowed certain large clients to use alternatives such as Switzerland-based Sygnum Bank and Flowbank.
Under the partnership, investors’ funds are held in the BBVA in the form of US Treasury bonds, which is accepted as transaction collateral.
BBVA continues to expand into the cryptocurrency market to meet growing demand from retail customers. Last month, major banks announced the launch of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) trading and storage services for Spanish clients through the bank’s mobile app.
The BBVA also said it would recommend that private bank clients invest up to 7% of their portfolio in crypto assets.
*This is not investment advice.