The BPCE banking group has officially entered the cryptocurrency market after receiving approval from the French Financial Market Authority (AMF).
On December 20, the AMF granted a license to Hexarq – the cryptocurrency subsidiary of BPCE – to become a crypto-asset service provider (CASP), making this group the second bank in France permitted to operate in this field, after Forge of Société Générale.
According to the granted license, Hexarq will provide core services including custody, buying, selling, and trading cryptocurrencies in euros. It is expected that by 2025, this company will launch cryptocurrency investment services through BPCE's two major banking networks, Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Épargne.
Source: AMF
This move is particularly significant considering the position of Groupe BPCE – one of the top 10 banks in Europe with 35 million customers and total assets under management amounting to 1.3 trillion euros as of the end of September 2024. The involvement of a financial institution as influential as BPCE is expected to create a domino effect, strongly promoting widespread acceptance of digital assets.
Hexarq, established in January 2021, focuses on developing solutions for cryptocurrency and real-world assets (RWA). The integration of Hexarq's application into the systems of Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Épargne promises to significantly expand access to digital asset services for customers. However, when asked about the launch plan for the service, BPCE declined to provide detailed information about the proposed rollout in 2025.
Currently, Hexarq is the fourth company to be granted CASP approval by the AMF, following Forge and two others: Deblock SAS (licensed in June 2023) and GOin SAS (September 2022). The AMF began accepting CASP registration applications in August 2024, ahead of the full implementation of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) on December 30.