Bank Leumi, one of the biggest banks in Israel, will start to offer crypto trading through its digital platform Pepper Invest, the company said in a press release on Friday.
Bank Leumi is offering the service in partnership with New York-based custody and trading platform Paxos and will be the first bank in Israel to offer crypto trading services to its clients.
Customers will be able to buy, hold and sell bitcoin BTC$68,185.38 and ether ETH$1,976.89 initially in transactions starting from 50 shekels ($15.49), Leumi said.
No start date has been provided as of now and the move is subject to regulatory approval.
"Pepper will collect tax according to the guidelines of the Israeli Tax Authority so that customers will not need to manage tax complexities," Leumi said in the announcement.
Reuters had earlier reported that Leumi will start to offer crypto trading.
Regulatory delays risk blunting Britain’s digital asset push, said Andrew MacKenzie, head of the pound-pegged stablecoin developer.
What to know:
Andrew MacKenzie, CEO of sterling stablecoin developer Agant, says the U.K.’s slow rollout of crypto and stablecoin rules undermines its ambition to be a global digital asset hub.
Agant’s FCA registration marks a regulatory milestone and positions its planned GBPA token as institutional infrastructure for payments, settlement and tokenized assets rather than a retail product.
MacKenzie said well-designed stablecoins can extend monetary sovereignty and spur competition in financial services.
U.K. banks are elevating blockchain to a C-suite priority amid what they see as a decades-long transition.