Banca Sella, one of Italy’s oldest financial institutions, announced on August 19 that it is entering the cryptocurrency market. The bank, which currently serves 1.4 million customers, will gradually make bitcoin (BTC) trading available to its users .
The new service is currently in beta testing for Hype Plus customers, a mobile banking platform that is available to all users of the financial institution. This way, Bitcoin buying and selling services are offered to its customers directly through an application.
Right now, the offer is in beta testing and is only available to a specific group of Hype premium members. However, the company plans to roll it out to all of its users in the coming days, marking a significant milestone in the digital evolution of the bank founded in 1886.
In this way, it will be possible for Banca Sella customers to make transactions only through Hype, avoiding exchanges with external platforms. As indicated by the bank's information, users will also be able to make purchases wherever cryptocurrency payments are accepted.
However, a number of limits have also been implemented to regulate the new offering. Thus, users with a “Hype Start” (basic) account can only trade a maximum of USD 2,700 per year. In contrast, Plus and Premium accounts can trade up to USD 54,000 per year. These limits are set to manage risk , as well as offering flexibility to the most active traders.
It should be added that the Bitcoin adoption process initiated by the century-old Italian bank is part of a broader trend of institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies, which has taken off globally. As a result, large global financial institutions such as JP Morgan Chase, BlackRock and Grayscale have adopted crypto-friendly practices, especially in the form of spot BTC ETFs.
Additionally, institutions such as Wells Fargo, PNC, BNY Mellon, US Bank, Société Générale, BTG Pactual and BNP Paribas also offer cryptocurrency custody and trading services.
Other major European banks such as MoraBanc and Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) have joined the list. Institutions such as BBVA and Santander in Switzerland, Deutsche Bank in Germany, and N26 and Revolut in Spain have also joined the list .
The inclusion of this type of services in banking financial products – as most of these institutions have reiterated – is due to the need to respond to the requests of clients , who are increasingly interested in the bitcoin ecosystem. The unstoppable institutional adoption has been one of the main drivers of the banks' initiatives.
