BBVA taps Ripple custody tech for retail crypto push in Spain

Crypto infrastructure firm Ripple has extended its collaboration with BBVA, announcing an agreement on Tuesday to provide its digital asset custody technology to the Spanish banking giant.

The move leverages Ripple Custody, Ripple's institutional-grade digital asset self-custody technology for tokenized assets, to support BBVA's recently launched crypto trading and custody service for bitcoin and ether, catering to retail customers in Spain.

"Now that the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation (MiCA) is established across Europe, the region's banks are emboldened to launch the digital asset offerings that their customers are asking for," Ripple Managing Director for Europe, Cassie Craddock, said in a statement.

Ripple's custody technology is designed to help banks like BBVA offer crypto and digital assets while maintaining security, compliance, and efficiency.

"Ripple's custody solution allows us to leverage proven and trusted technology that meets the highest security and operational standards, allowing BBVA to directly provide an end-to-end custody service to its customers," BBVA Head of Digital Assets Francisco Maroto said. 

The new agreement builds on a longstanding collaboration between the two companies, with Ripple already providing custody technology for BBVA in Switzerland and Turkey, and the pair working together on real-time international money transfer pilots.

Last month, BBVA was reported to have taken on a role as one of a few independent custodians for clients of the world's largest crypto exchange, Binance.