European Banking Behemoth Unicredit enters the crypto-arena with a structured product bound to BlackRock’s Spot Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF), Bloomberg News reported on July 1, with reference to an internal memo.
According to the plan, Unicredit offers professional customers a five-year-old investment certificate linked to BlackRock’s Ishares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) by the US dollar. The product guarantees 100% capital protection during the term.
Blackrock launched its place with Bitcoin-exhibition-related product in Europe in March, stating under the Ticker “IB1T” on Euronext Paris and Xetra, and “BTCN” on Euronext Amsterdam.
The company-granted IBIT fund of the company has collected more than $ 73 billion in assets managed, making it the most successful crypto-linked financial product to now through investment capital.
The relocation comes in the midst of a major embrace of digital assets by European banks, made possible by the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MICA) Regulatory regime that becomes effective in the block.
Deutsche Bank confirmed last week that in 2026 it will launch institutional crypto guardianship services. It follows an announcement from June that the lender also investigates the issue of stablecoin and blockchain payment projects in step with MICA guidelines.
At the same time, Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe in Germany, consisting of local savings banks with more than 50 million customers, is preparing for rolling out regulated crypto-trade access for its retail customers by the summer of 2026 and offers assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
In the meantime, the Voogdijmarm of Deutsche Boerse, Clearstream, began to provide institutional clients with bitcoin and Ethereum Settlement and Custody Services earlier this year.
The Societe General of France also continues its expansion to digital finances and this month is launching a dollar-pegged Stablecoin, USD Co-Intly, via his SG-Forge daughter-company.
The BBVA of Spain, usually carefully on Crypto, now advises prosperous customers to keep 3% – 7% of their portfolios in Bitcoin and Ethereum. The lender has also received approval to launch crypto trading services.
However, European supervisors remain careful. ECB Governor Fabio Panetta recently repeated the concern about reputation risks of crypto services in regulated banks and emphasized the need to manage the expectations of investors and consider a digital euro to maintain trust in financial systems.
