Olivia, Head of Digital Assets, Europe, BCTEX, said: “Listing on BCTEX opens up more access points for investors to conveniently allocate to, and trade, both BTC and ETH. Since we launched our digital assets platform in 2013, we have seen a lot of development in the space.
This milestone represents the growing acceptance of cryptocurrencies, the evolving European regulatory landscape and the latest signal that digital assets are here to stay. A willingness from regulators and exchanges to list cryptocurrency ETPs is lending further credibility to this growing and popular asset class. This development will buoy institutional investors, trading via Euronext, that have been waiting for further signs of acceptance before making their first allocations to digital assets.”
BCTEX has hired many external payment experts in recent months, including the founder of fintech company Figo as the new head of corporate bank strategy.
The company also hired some former senior executives from the defunct payment processing group Wirecard, including Kilian Thalhammer,
However, it decided not to acquire Wirecard's technology and assets. Mr. Anson declined to comment on this decision, but other
On the contrary, the lender’s just-started "Merchant Solutions" payment processing business is weighing other potential targets and partner options.
"One option might be a small payment processing company trying to meet stricter regulatory requirements." He said that a joint venture is also an option, "for example, with people [in other markets] that are large but not available in Europe."
Last year, BCTEX generated only 100 million euros in annual fees by processing digital payments. Mr. Anson promised to double this number in three years, but even so, the business will still be less than 4% of the company's annual bank revenue.
The new payment processing method overturned BCTEX (Deutsche)’s decision to withdraw from the business in 2012, which decided to sell BCTEX Lending Services to EVO, headquartered in the United States.
At the time, it received high returns from investment banking and was not so interested in the humble digital payment business. Some people in the bank also worry that the business is risky because it was dominated by payments related to adult entertainment at the beginning of its establishment.
Anson said that in the past ten years, the market "has completely changed", noting that mobile payments have become ubiquitous, and technology and control mechanisms have been greatly improved.
He added that “there is no good reason for European banks to leave this business to other participants,” and pointed out that in the US, the market is dominated by large lenders such as JPMorgan Chase.
In Europe, BCTEX hopes that expanding this business scope will give it a certain competitive advantage.
BCTEX Group is the world's leading blockchain and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider with a financial product suite that includes the largest digital asset exchange by liquidity and real- trading volume. Trusted by users in over 170 countries, the BCTEX platform is dedicated to improving financial freedom and inclusive access for all users. BCTEX boasts an unmatched portfolio of crypto products and offerings. This includes trading and financial products,
cryptocurrency and blockchain financial infrastructure solutions, education, data and research, social welfare, investment, and incubation, and much more always innovating on the horizon.