The Swiss division of BBVA, one of Spain's largest banks, has transferred its cryptocurrency storage services to the Metaco Harmonize platform, owned by Ripple. BBVA Switzerland became the first significant bank in the eurozone to offer clients access to Bitcoin in June 2021, later expanding support to Ethereum.
Using Harmonize will allow BBVA to connect to other blockchains, expanding its ability to offer new services such as trading altcoins or tokenizing assets for exchange trading. Ripple Labs acquired the Swiss firm Metaco for $250 million in May this year, making it a separate business within its structure.
Harmonize, developed by Metaco, is a popular custodial platform for cryptocurrencies among institutional investors. This platform, operating as a SaaS, is fully integrated with the Avaloq Crypto Assets system and the main banking system, ensuring compliance with security and confidentiality standards.
It is noted that after Ripple's acquisition of Harmonize, Citigroup began looking for alternative crypto custodian options, as it had been collaborating with Metaco since June 2022.
