Europe’s banks are going all in on crypto

European banks are integrating digital assets into existing brokerage and payment infrastructures, a shift accelerated by the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). Firms including BBVA, DZ Bank, Société Générale and KBC have embedded Bitcoin and Ether trading into regulated platforms, expanding the addressable market by leveraging existing retail client bases. That distributional change means banks — not standalone exchanges — will own more customer relationships, enabling cross‑selling of tokenized products and stablecoin payment rails. Bloomberg Intelligence projects stablecoins could power over $50 trillion in annual payments by 2030, while EU digital‑asset ownership is forecast to reach ~25% by 2030 (from 9% in 2024). The article signals a structurally bullish outlook for crypto adoption and market liquidity, benefiting major tokens such as Bitcoin.