Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, one of the well-known banks based in Spain, has advised its affluent clients to invest some of their funds in crypto. BBVA advises its wealthy clients to invest 3% to 7% of their portfolio in crypto and Bitcoin, depending on their risk tolerance.
Reuters quoted the statement of Philippe Meyer, the head of digital and blockchain solutions at BBVA Switzerland, “ With private customers, since September last year, we started advising on Bitcoin.”
He said the clients were receptive to the advice from the bank, dismissing concerns that the assets are too risky. Meyer also added that, “ If you look at a balanced portfolio, if you introduce 3%, you already boost the performance. At 3%, you are not taking a huge risk.”
3-7% advice currently applies to bitcoin and ether, but BBVA plans to expand the advice to other cryptocurrencies later this year, Meyer told Reuters.
BBVA has continued expanding its crypto-based services and operates in Switzerland, Spain, and Turkiye. The bank leverages its own custody technology and partnerships like Visa and Bit2Me to offer secure, accessible crypto while advancing blockchain innovation.
BBVA holds a licence to offer BTC & ETH to retail clients in Spain
According to the available information, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria has secured approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Spain on March 10, 2025, to offer Bitcoin and Ethereum trading and custody services to retail clients in the territories.
This service enables customers to buy, sell, and manage these cryptocurrencies through the BBVA mobile banking application.
In September 2024, BBVA added USDC to its Swiss platform, enabling faster and more efficient transactions for institutional clients; the custody services use Metaco’s Harmonize platform for improved security and blockchain interoperability.
BBVA Switzerland has partnered with Protein Capital for digital assets custody and support Lungano’s crypto adoption efforts, including Bitcoin and Tether as legal tender.
The Turkish subsidiary of BBVA, Garanti BBVA, established a dedicated company to provide crypto custody and trading services.
Garanti BBVA’s crypto platform supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDC, and others like AVAX, XRP, Solana, and more; it began offering this service in January 2024 and used Spain-based crypto exchange Bit2Me to execute trades.
Crypto market price updates
As of writing, the cryptocurrency market capitalization was $3.26 trillion, and the trading volume is $121.37 billion. On the other hand, the crypto fear and greed index was at 49, indicating neutrality.
Bitcoin is now at $104,962 with a loss of 1.56% in the past 24 hours and more than 4.15% in a week. Ethereum is at $2,525 and with a loss of 1.85% intraday and over 9.60% in a week.
According to CoinMarketCap, the intraday gainers list has been topped by Kaia, Nexo, Sei, and Flare; yet the losers are Story, Sky, Fartcoin, Dogwifhat, and Immutable.
