French banking group BPCE will begin offering crypto trading services to retail customers through its Banque Populaire and Caisse d'Épargne apps starting Monday, with plans to expand to 12 million customers by 2026.
The service will allow customers to buy and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and USDC through a separate digital asset account managed by Hexarq, BPCE's crypto-focused subsidiary. According to The Big Whale, the initial rollout covers four regional banks including Banque Populaire Île-de-France and Caisse d'Épargne Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.
The pilot phase will reach approximately 2 million customers. BPCE plans to extend the service gradually across its remaining 25 regional entities through 2026, ultimately making crypto trading available to its full retail base.
Each digital asset account comes with a €2.99 monthly fee and a 1.5% transaction commission, with a minimum charge of €1 per trade. Users will be able to access the service without needing external exchanges or third-party wallets.
A bank insider told The Big Whale the phased approach is intended to monitor how the service performs at launch before scaling. The strategy allows BPCE to assess adoption rates and system performance with a limited user base before opening access to millions of additional customers.
Industry Context and Competition
BPCE's move comes as competition intensifies across Europe between traditional banks and crypto-friendly fintechs such as Revolut, Deblock, Bitstack, and Trade Republic. All of these platforms currently offer access to digital assets, putting pressure on established banks to provide similar services.
Several European institutions have taken comparable steps in recent months. BBVA allows crypto trading directly in its Spanish banking app with integrated custody, while Santander's Openbank offers access to five crypto assets. A Vienna-based unit of Raiffeisen Bank partnered with Bitpanda to offer crypto services to its retail clients.
The rollout positions BPCE as one of the first major traditional European banks to integrate digital assets directly into consumer banking applications. The move reflects growing institutional acceptance of cryptocurrency as a standard financial product.
Regulatory Landscape
Last month, French lawmakers narrowly approved an amendment that would extend the country's wealth tax to cover unproductive assets, including digital assets such as crypto. Under the amendment, individuals holding more than $2.3 million in qualifying unproductive wealth would face a new flat 1% tax. The proposal must still pass the Senate as part of the 2026 budget process before becoming law.