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Ether Joins Bitcoin on BBVA Switzerland’s Cryptocurrency Service

Six months later after BBVA Switzerland launched bitcoin trading and custody services, now they also offer ether to its private banking clients and customers with a New Gen account, where you can buy, sell, and trade your crypto.

“We decided to add ether to our crypto asset “wallet” because, together with bitcoin, they are the protocols that spark the most interest among investors, while also offering all the guarantees to comply with regulation,” said Alfonso Gómez, CEO of BBVA Switzerland

BBVA Switzerland is looking into the future

BBVA Switzerland is the subsidiary of the Spanish bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (BBVA) and it specializes in private banking. According to BBVA Switzerland 2020 annual report published last June, they had 4.8 billion Swiss francs or $5.18 billion assets under management.

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Three months ago, in September, they launched a new online account called “New Gen” to make it easier for customers who want to invest on their own, in a 100% digital way. They offer stocks, ETFs, Investments Funds, and Cryptocurrencies.

“With New Gen we want to reach a new type of investor, attracted by new sectors that have great potential to transform the future,” says Javier Rubio, Director of Client Solutions at BBVA Switzerland.

In order to open a New Gen account, you must be 18 years old, be a resident of any European country, and have a minimum deposit of $10.000 or its equivalent in Swiss francs or euros. New Gen accounts are also available in Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Chile, and others, according to the BBVA Switzerland’s website.

Ether is getting attention from institutional investors

Ether is the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, at the time of this writing, Ethereum’s market cap is $473.18 billion, it is bigger than the world’s largest banks, J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank of America, according to Infinite Market Cap’s website.

Ether has outperformed bitcoin this year, with a +600% performance, one of the main reasons is the growth of different crypto ecosystems over the Ethereum blockchain in NFTs like the Bored Apes, DeFi like Uniswap, play-to-earn games like Axie Infinity, and metaverse like The Sandbox. Additionally, institutional investors are seeing Ethereum’s different utilities, as an alternative to Bitcoin’s digital gold.

According to a J.P. Morgan Chase report published in September, over the past months, institutions have preferred Ethereum over Bitcoin in numbers of contracts based on Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) futures contracts. The demand continues growing with the micro ether futures launched last week on CME.

This puts BBVA Switzerland as one of the main institutional players offering ether and, as announced by the company, they will continue to expand their crypto assets portfolio in the future. BBVA Switzerland is making a huge step forward in the crypto industry. There is no doubt the other BBVA subsidiaries are working on offering similar services, but its execution depends on the country’s regulation. In the near future we hope to see other banks offer cryptocurrency services, and collaborate with the growth of crypto institutional adoption. Let’s wait and see which other pioneers decide to join.

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

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