Bunq is bringing crypto trading to its app, ahead of plans to launch its banking services across a more crypto-friendly US market.
The Dutch challenger bank is launching Bunq Crypto across the Netherlands, France, Spain, Ireland, Italy, and Belgium.
It then plans to launch crypto trading across the rest of the European Economic Area, as well as the US and the UK where it has applied for licences to operate.
Bunq, which has 17m users across Europe, is partnering up with crypto exchange Kraken on the move, in which Bunq users can trade over 300 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. Bunq says users can open an account in seconds.
Bunq, which last year added stock trading to its offering, says the move is fuelled by customer demand, pointing to its own research showing that 65 per cent of Europeans want to manage their banking, savings, and crypto investment in one place.
Asked why Bunq, which targets "digital nomads" such as remote workers, had made the move now, Bunq founder and CEO Ali Niknam suggested that Bunq had wanted to make the move earlier.
He said: “As a regulated bank we can’t always innovate as quickly as we would like to. The regulatory landscape has changed and is now more susceptible to this kind of innovation; as always Bunq dived in and now we’re the first bank to deliver crypto!”
Asked if the move was designed to boost Bunq’s appeal in the US, which is more crypto-friendly under Trump, as it looks to get a US banking licence through initially a broker-dealer registration, Niknam said: “We're incredibly excited about the US! We can't wait to share more and will as soon as we can."
On concerns about crypto scams and financial crime, Niknam said: “These concerns are precisely what we’re addressing. As a bank, we have extensive experience detecting scams and use advanced technology like AI to keep our users safe. By bringing crypto onto our platform, we’ll be even more effective at spotting suspicious activity.
"Every wallet will be fully ring-fenced; giving users a simple and safe way to start investing in crypto.”
In its latest accounts, Bunq reported a 65 per cent increase in profits to €85.3 million.
Another challenger bank Revolut, meanwhile, recently flagged crypto trading activity as key to driving up revenues.
But some banks have banned customers from carrying out crypto transactions, amid concerns about scams.
In the UK, Starling Bank no longer supports crypto transactions while Chase UK, JP Morgan’s UK challenger bank, has blocked UK customers from purchasing crypto assets.
Would you like to write the first comment?
Login to post comments