Spanish bank Santander’s private division in Switzerland has announced the opening of opportunities for 210,000 affluent clients to trade and store Bitcoin and Ethereum.
According to internal documents cited by CoinDesk, the division plans to expand the available tools over the next few months. The service is currently only available upon request.
The bank follows a regulated custodial model and stores clients’ private keys in a secure environment. Santander’s head of digital assets, John Whelan, commented that the ownership of cryptocurrencies as an alternative asset class is on the rise and they expect their clients to entrust their custody to the institution.
It’s worth noting that in March 2023, during the US banking crisis, Santander was one of the few banks that did not refuse to work with crypto companies.
In 2022, the bank’s Brazilian branch already offered a digital asset trading service for local clients.
