rewrite this title and make it good for SEORipple Taps BBVA to Expand Custody Services to Spain

San Francisco-based blockchain payments firm Ripple Labs Inc. is set to expand its footprint in Spain through a partnership with Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA). It announced the move on X on Sept. 9, citing that the partnership is a response to the growing demand for cryptocurrencies or crypto-based assets.

Ripple has agreed with BBVA to provide its digital asset custody service to the Spanish banking company. This comes barely two months after BBVA launched Bitcoin and Ethereum trading and custody services for retail customers.

After receiving regulatory approval from Spain’s National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), the Bank’s customers can now buy, sell, and hold crypto-assets within BBVA’s existing digital banking environment.

This development removes the need for these customers to rely on third-party platforms or custodians. Now it is introducing Ripple Custody, the institutional-grade digital asset self-custody technology of the Brad Garlinghouse-led firm. This way, the goal for the BTC and ETH trading is achieved through a secure custody service for tokenized assets, including digital assets.

Generally, this marks a significant pivot of traditional banks towards cryptocurrencies. These TradFi entities have become more relaxed around this asset class, as they seek to make notable investments by all means. Cassie Craddock, Managing Director, Europe, at Ripple, attributed this change to the introduction of the EU’s Market in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation.

“Now that the EU’s Market’s in Crypto-Assets regulation (MiCA) is established across Europe, the region’s banks are emboldened to launch the digital asset offerings that their customers are asking for,” Craddock said “BBVA has long been one of the region’s most innovative banks and we’re proud to support its ambitions with the most secure and compliant digital asset technology on the market.”

It is worth noting that Binance has also recently partnered with BBVA to explore crypto custody solutions for its customers. At the time, some sources perceived the move as the crypto exchange’s strategy of seeking to restore confidence in centralized crypto services, especially after major incidents like the FTX implosion. Notably, this comes as a means for Binance to expand its footing in the EU crypto industry.

Meanwhile, Ripple’s Custody service is recognized for facilitating the delivery of crypto access to customers of financial institutions like BBVA. It complies with strict security, operational, and regulatory requirements. Back in February, Ripple Labs entered a strategic partnership with South Korean crypto custody provider BDACS to deliver secure infrastructure for institutional players in the region.

This marked its way of providing custodial infrastructure linked to crypto assets like XRP, RLUSD, and others. Particularly, this was very crucial for BDACS as it is in the middle of expanding its footprint in the global crypto market. This is in addition to focusing on tokenized securities (STOs) and real-world asset tokenization (RWA).

Read original story Ripple Taps BBVA to Expand Custody Services to Spain by Godfrey Benjamin at Coinspeaker.com