French banking group BPCE will let retail customers trade crypto directly inside its Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Épargne mobile apps beginning Monday, according to an exclusive report from The Big Whale. The pilot covers clients of four regional banks, including Banque Populaire Île-de-France and Caisse d’Épargne Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, and will allow purchases and sales of bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), Solana (SOL) and Circle’s USDC.
The initial rollout will reach roughly 2 million customers. BPCE plans a phased expansion across its remaining 25 regional entities through 2026, with the goal of reaching its entire 12‑million retail customer base. A bank representative said the staged approach is intended to monitor the service’s performance and reliability before scaling more widely.
Trades will be executed and held inside a dedicated digital-asset account accessible from the apps. That account is managed by Hexarq, BPCE’s crypto subsidiary. The service carries a €2.99 monthly account fee and charges 1.5% per trade, with a minimum fee of $1.16 on each transaction. Customers can use the functionality without needing external crypto exchanges or third‑party wallets.
BPCE’s move comes amid growing competition in Europe between incumbent banks and crypto-friendly fintechs such as Revolut and Trade Republic. Several other European banks have already introduced similar in-app crypto offerings: Spain’s BBVA enabled in‑app buying, selling and custody of BTC and ETH earlier this year; Santander’s digital unit Openbank expanded trading and custody to five crypto assets; and Raiffeisen’s Vienna division partnered with Bitpanda to add crypto services for retail clients. BPCE’s program is the latest example of traditional banks integrating crypto services to retain customers and compete with fintech challengers.