BBVA partners with Ripple’s Metaco to expand crypto services in Switzerland

BBVA in Switzerland will migrate its crypto custody service to Metaco’s Harmonize platform.
It also plans to expand its crypto trading services beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Ripple acquired Swiss-based Metaco in May 2023.

BBVA in Switzerland, the Swiss arm of the Spanish banking giant BBVA, announced on Thursday that it had struck a partnership with blockchain platform Metaco.

The collaboration will see BBVA use Metaco’s Harmonize platform to host its crypto custody service. This comes as the bank embarks on a new chapter in its crypto strategy and will help it expand its footprint amid growing demand from institutional clients.

BBVA to expand trading beyond BTC. ETH

Metaco, a Swiss-based digital assets custody platform founded in 2015, launched its Harmonize platform in 2021. Ripple, one of the leading crypto companies in the world and which created XRP, acquired Metaco in May 2023.

Harmonize offers an institutional standard that financial institutions and corporations can leverage as they build their blockchain and crypto services. BBVA has offered Bitcoin and Ethereum trading as well as custody since 2021.

With this partnership, it is migrating custody to Metaco’s Harmonize and will tap into its features to expand its crypto trading service to other cryptocurrencies. It will also use it for its tokenization product.

“Our partnership with Metaco, which will fully integrate our existing infrastructure within Avaloq, allows us to stay ahead of the market, offering the most robust and compliant platform,” Alfonso Gómez, CEO of BBVA in Switzerland, said in a statement.

Adrien Treccani, founder and CEO of Metaco, added:

“Metaco and BBVA Switzerland have had a longstanding history of partnership, and we are proud to bring our partnership to new heights, enabling awarded digital asset commercial offerings that fit the unique requirements of individuals and institutions.”

Metaco has key partnerships with global banks and financial institutions, including HSBC, DZ Bank, Societe Generale and UnionBank.

Recently, Standard Chartered-backed Zodia integrated Metaco. Also this week, the Ripple platform the platform partnered with computing giant IBM on the Hyper Protect Offline Signing Orchestrator (OSO), a technology that makes it easier and safer for top tier banks and financial institutions to safely deploy and handle digital assets in cold storage.