Oct 20, 2022
N26 Offers Crypto Trading to Users in Bitpanda Partnership
, Bloomberg News
(Bloomberg) -- N26 will start offering cryptocurrency trading to its customers via a partnership with Bitpanda GmbH following similar moves by the digital bank’s peers.
The product will be offered in Bitpanda’s home market of Austria first and then rolled out more broadly in the next six months, the Berlin-based company said in a statement on Thursday. Customers will be able to trade 100 coins at the start, and N26 said it plans to have almost 200 available in the coming month.
N26 is following rivals -- including Revolut Ltd. and Vivid Money GmbH -- in offering crypto trading to customers. Even Mastercard Inc. said this week that it would let customers trade crypto products through their bank accounts. N26 Co-Chief Executive Officer Valentin Stalf said that while cryptocurrencies had been in decline over the last year, the company’s customers are still requesting access to them.
Read More: Mastercard Offers Crypto-Trading Service Tied to Bank Accounts
“Investing in a market like today’s market is actually really good because it takes the fad element away,” Chief Product Officer Gilles Bianrosa in an interview. While the company will have to roll out crypto a single market at a time because of different regulations, N26’s goal is ultimately to offer the product everywhere they operate, he said.
More mainstream financial institutions have started offering customers access to cryptocurrency products even as widespread declines in the markets have led to trillions of dollars in losses. In August, BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager, began offering its first product that allowed direct investment in Bitcoin.
Read More: Bitpanda Cuts Hundreds of Jobs Citing Uncertain Crypto Outlook
Bitpanda will manage trade execution and coin custody, N26 said in the statement. N26, whose backers include Coatue, Li Ka-Shing and Peter Thiel, said customers will be able to trade Bitcoin at a 1.5% transaction fee and will be charged 2% for other coins. Those are the same rates offered on Bitpanda’s platform.
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