Banking Meets Bitcoin: French Banking Giant Offers Crypto To Millions

[Ben Graham]

Based on reports, France’s second-largest banking group has started letting customers trade crypto in its mobile apps. BPCE opened the service on Monday for selected users of Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Épargne.

Around 2 million people in four regional banks can now buy and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and USDC through the apps.

Measured Limited Rollout

The launch covers the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur branch of Caisse d’Épargne and the Île-de-France division of Banque Populaire, among others.

BPCE has said it will watch early use closely. That controlled approach is meant to catch technical issues and fix the user flow before wider availability. If all goes to plan, the bank intends to extend the feature across its 25 remaining regional entities by 2026, reaching a retail base of roughly 12 million clients.

EXCLUSIVE @TheBigWhale_: BPCE now lets customers buy crypto assets.

Starting this Monday, the French bank’s customers will be able to purchase BTC, ETH, SOL, and USDC: https://t.co/J2C4UnWi68@GroupeBPCE, one of Europe’s leading banks, is rolling out this service in a first… pic.twitter.com/3olRgVoot4

— Raphaël Bloch (@Raph_Bloch) December 6, 2025

BPCE has set up a separate unit, Hexarq, to handle customer crypto accounts. Each user will have a dedicated in-app digital-asset account that is managed by Hexarq rather than being routed to outside exchanges or third-party wallets.

The arrangement keeps custody within the bank’s ecosystem. It also comes with a monthly fee of €2.99 and a trading commission of 1.5% on transactions.

Banks Face Fintech Pressure

Reports have pointed to the rise of fintech rivals as a driving reason for the move. Companies such as Revolut, Deblock, Bitstack and Trade Republic built early crypto offerings and attracted many retail users.

Traditional lenders now risk losing younger customers unless they match those services. Some banks in Europe already offer in-app trading: BBVA supports Bitcoin and Ethereum,

Openbank under Santander lists five cryptocurrencies, and Raiffeisen in Vienna provides similar features through a tie-up with Bitpanda. BPCE’s entry follows this trend and could push other big lenders to act.

The fees set by BPCE are higher than what many crypto-first platforms charge. Yet many consumers may accept that in exchange for having crypto tied directly to their bank accounts and day-to-day services. For many users, trust and convenience matter more than the lowest possible fee.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView