Update (April 29 at 8:54 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include comments from Bunq’s CEO to Cointelegraph.
Europe’s second-largest neobank, Bunq, is expanding into cryptocurrency, citing growing retail investor demand for digital assets worldwide.
The Amsterdam-based neobank announced the launch of Bunq Crypto on April 29, a new offering enabling its users to invest in over 300 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL).
Starting April 29, Bunq users in the Netherlands, France, Spain, Ireland, Italy and Belgium will be able to access cryptocurrencies directly through the Bunq app, according to an announcement.
Bunq CEO Ali Niknam told Cointelegraph that the move was driven by growing client demand for digital assets. “We believe that now many, many people, the large majority, are interested in crypto, and we believe that they’re interested in buying crypto through an environment that they can trust, and they can relate to and they can recognize,” he said.
Moreover, a friendlier regulatory landscape helped clear the path for the bank’s expansion into crypto. “I think for a long time, the future of crypto from a regulatory perspective was a bit unclear. And we have seen a lot of that change over the course of the past couple of months. And so we felt sufficiently assured as a regulated entity to now offer this to the general public,” Niknam said.
The crypto offering is powered in partnership with Kraken, the 14th-largest centralized cryptocurrency exchange globally by trading volume.
Related: Coinbase to launch yield-bearing Bitcoin fund for institutions
All-in-one financial platforms in focus
This marks the first phase of Bunq’s global crypto expansion, with plans to gradually roll out trading across the entire European Economic Area, as well as in the United States and the United Kingdom.
As of June 2024, Bunq reported more than 12.5 million users, up from nine million users a year earlier.
Bunq’s move reflects a broader trend among financial institutions seeking to consolidate services — banking, savings and investing — into single digital platforms.
In a February post on X, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said he expects future financial systems to be anchored by “a single primary financial account” where users manage all their financial activities.
Related: Bitcoin treasury firms driving $200T hyperbitcoinization — Adam Back
Demand for simplified crypto access
Research commissioned by Bunq indicates a significant gap between available crypto offerings and user expectations in Europe. An estimated 65% of European consumers are seeking a unified platform to manage banking, savings and cryptocurrency investments, according to the study.
Over 50% of surveyed investors want crypto exposure but said the existing platforms don’t meet their requirements, particularly regarding simplicity and security for new investors.
“Our users across the world have long waited for a simple, safe and straightforward way to invest in digital assets,” said Ali Niknam, founder and CEO of Bunq. “Now, everything they will ever need to save, spend and invest — including crypto — is on one platform.”
Bunq’s crypto expansion follows Revolut’s move in November 2024 to expand its crypto exchange services across 30 European Economic Area markets.
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