The service is aimed at those clients who are already well versed in digital assets, but are willing to invest only a small amount of money.

The Austrian bank Raiffeisen Bank International plans to provide retail clients with the opportunity to trade cryptocurrency assets, Coindesk reports. Already in January 2024, customers from Vienna, where the company's headquarters are located, will be the first to use this service.

According to journalists, the bank has the opportunity to provide such services thanks to a partnership with the Bitpanda cryptocurrency exchange. The trading platform entered into an agreement with an Austrian bank in April this year.

“We start with Vienna, where about a quarter of the total population of Austria lives. Clients can use mobile devices to access the Bitpanda exchange through the Raiffeisen app. The user experience will be familiar, making transactions on the exchange will not differ from a regular bank transfer of money,” Kurt Chadha, head of innovation at Raiffeisen Bank International, said in an interview. According to him, this service is aimed primarily at those clients who are already well versed in digital assets, but are ready to invest only a small amount of money.

According to the publication, the offer of such services by a large bank is another sign of the massive introduction of digital assets in the European Union. The company has approximately $215 billion in assets and 17.8 million customers in the European Union and Eastern Europe.

In May, the Council of Europe adopted rules for regulating digital assets Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA). 27 EU member countries unanimously supported the bill. The document introduces institutional regulation of the issuance of cryptocurrencies and establishes a uniform legal regime for cryptocompanies in the European Union.

Under these rules, any stablecoins that are closely linked to the financial system are subject to additional capital requirements and centralized oversight by the European Union.

In February, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) announced that it would develop a system for monitoring stablecoins. A corresponding project called Project Pyxtrial will be launched by the London division of BIS.

The European Union also called for limiting the amount of leverage for cryptocurrency trading. The unregulated sphere of lending and margin trading on crypto exchanges could pose a threat to the traditional financial system, according to the European Systemic Risk Council.

More details on RBC:
https://www.rbc.ru/crypto/news/655f4b0e9a79477fdc442271

Raiffeisen Bank will provide clients with the opportunity to trade cryptocurrency