- Switzerland’s BBVA will move its cryptocurrency custody services to Metaco’s Harmonize platform.
- We also plan to expand our cryptocurrency trading services beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum.
- Ripple acquired Swiss-based Metaco in May 2023.
Switzerland’s BBVA, the Swiss subsidiary of Spanish banking giant BBVA, announced on Thursday a partnership with blockchain platform Metaco.
Through this collaboration, BBVA will use Metaco’s Harmonize platform to host cryptocurrency custody services. This will help the bank launch a new chapter in its cryptocurrency strategy and expand its presence as demand from institutional clients grows.
BBVA expands trading beyond BTC ETH
Metaco, a Swiss-based digital asset management platform founded in 2015, launched its Harmonize platform in 2021. Ripple, one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency companies and the creator of XRP, acquired Metaco in May 2023.
Harmonize provides institutional standards that financial institutions and enterprises can leverage when building blockchain and cryptocurrency services. BBVA has been providing Bitcoin and Ethereum trading and custody services since 2021.
Through this partnership, we will transfer custody to Metaco’s Harmonize and leverage its capabilities to expand our cryptocurrency trading services to other cryptocurrencies. We will also use this for tokenization products.
“Our partnership with Metaco, which will fully integrate with our existing infrastructure within Avaloq, allows us to stay ahead of the market by providing the most robust and compliant platform,” said Alfonso Gómez, CEO of BBVA in Switzerland, in a statement.
Adrien Treccani, Founder and CEO of Metaco, added:
“Metaco and BBVA Switzerland have a long history of partnership, and we are proud to take our partnership to a new level, providing digital asset commerce services tailored to the unique needs of individuals and institutions.”
Metaco has key partnerships with global banks and financial institutions including HSBC, DZ Bank, Societe Generale and UnionBank.
Recently, Zodia, backed by Standard Chartered, integrated Metaco. Also this week, the Ripple platform teamed up with computing giant IBM to develop Hyper Protect Offline Signing Orchestrator (OSO), a technology that enables top-tier banks and financial institutions to securely deploy and process digital assets in cold storage. .