French banking giant BPCE will offer crypto trading for Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL) and USD Coin (USDC) to its two million retail customers starting today.
Customers can trade these cryptos directly on the group’s Banque Popculaire and Caisse d’Épargne mobile apps, The Big Whale. reported.
The initial rollout will take place at four regional banks
The BPCE rollout will initially take place among customers of four regional banks, including Banque Popculaire Île-de-France and Caisse d’Épargne Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, which together have approximately two million customers.
Crypto purchases in the mobile apps will be managed by dedicated digital asset accounts managed by Hexarq, BPCE’s crypto subsidiary, the report said.
You will be charged a monthly fee of 2.99 euros ($3.48) and a 1.5% commission per transaction.
The initial rollout will “monitor how the service performs at launch” and whether successfully, the BPCE will gradually expand to the remaining 25 regional entities next year. This will open up crypto trading to its 12 million strong retail base.
Competition in Europe is increasing
BPCE’s move comes amid growing competition in Europe between traditional banks and crypto-friendly fintechs including Revolut, Deblock, Bitstack and Trade Public, all of which have started offering crypto trading for their EU customers.
Several European institutions have also started offering crypto trading to their clients. Among them is BBVA, which gives its Spanish customers the ability to buy, sell and hold BTC and ETH directly in the app. This builds on BBVA’s own in-house custody offering.
Meanwhile, Santander’s digital arm Openbank offers trading and custody for five cryptos. Similarly, the Vienna-based branch of Raiffeisen Bank has partnered with Bitpanda to offer crypto services to its retail customers.
Europe is moving towards full MiCA rollout
The move by BPCE and other companies also reflects the growing clarity of regulations in Europe.
The European Union has already started rolling out its Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, which aims to establish uniform, EU-wild rules around transparency, disclosure requirements and the supervision of entities issuing or trading crypto assets.
MiCA was formally adopted in 2023, while the stablecoin-related rules came into effect on June 30, 2024.
MiCA-authorized stablecoin issuers (Source: X)
The full regime, covering service providers, trading, market abuse, etc., became fully applicable on December 30 last year. However, a transition period was introduced for some EU Member States.
The transition periods vary by member state, but generally end on July 1, 2026. This means that existing crypto asset service providers will have until then or until they receive MiCA authorization to adapt to the new framework.
Some countries, such as the Netherlands and Latvia, opted for shorter deadlines that expired in the middle of this year.
The EU proposes to make crypto regulation less fragmented
In addition to the MiCA framework, the European Commission recently proposed giving the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) direct supervisory responsibility for crypto companies. This would allow ESMA to fulfill a similar role to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US.
🚨 EUROPE IS PREPARING ITS OWN “CRYPTO SEC”.
The European Commission wants ESMA to have full control over all crypto licensing and supervision across the EU.
This could reshape the entire market:
• One supervisor for each CASP
• Slower approvals if ESMA becomes overwhelmed
•… pic.twitter.com/psNz2tVzKv— Giannis Andreou (@gandreou007) December 8, 2025
The aim of the proposal is to reduce fragmentation within the 27-state bloc, while ensuring consistency in enforcement and oversight of the crypto space.
If the proposal is approved, ESMA would take over the licensing and supervision of “major” crypto asset service providers operating cross-border.
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