Cecabank, a Spanish wholesale custodian that reported more €400 billion in assets under management (AUM) to start 2026, disclosed earlier today that its cryptocurrency custody services have gone live. The service arrived via a partnership with the Bit2Me crypto exchange.
With the launch, Cecabank joins a growing list of traditional European custodian banks that have been emboldened by the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework to expand into servicing crypto clients after it secured its MiCA license from Spain’s CNMV in 2025.
The Madrid-based firm also registered with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
Cecabank enters crypto custody while it’s hot
Despite its early-mover advantage, Cecabank is not exactly a trailblazer. Throughout 2025 and into 2026, banks in the US have made moves to enter the crypto market after US regulators cleared the path.
In July 2025, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Federal Reserve, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) jointly confirmed that national banks can provide crypto custody. The non-negotiable condition being that they maintain adequate risk management and compliance programs.
Since then, one only has to look in the pudding to see the proof. Data shared by Bitcoin financial services firm River found that 60% of the top 25 US banks have either launched or publicly announced plans for Bitcoin-related products, including custody, trading, and crypto-backed lending.
According to Citi’s securities services head Shahmir Khaliq, launching a crypto custody platform is at a “mission critical” level. Three of the other four largest US banks by assets (JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo collectively managing over $7.3 trillion) have also taken steps toward crypto services.
That piece of legislation was spurred on by St. Cloud Financial Credit Union telling Minnesota lawmakers that the roughly 20% of its members who already own crypto don’t have a regulated local option for storage.
MiCA rules gave European players a head start
The EU MiCA digital asset rules, which took full effect in late 2024, allowed local players like Cecabank to position themselves early at a time when US banks were still feeling their way through the dark.
Notably, Cecabank has been on an expansion trail, institutionally and geographically. The bank framed its crypto custody capabilities as a logical expansion of its current business, building on the rails that its institutional clients are already familiar with.
It also opened a new office in Luxembourg and joined the board of the Luxembourg Bankers’ Association (ABBL), where it now chairs the Depositary Cluster.
For Cecabank, the question is whether its B2B model, early MiCA license, and recent foothold in one of Europe’s largest fund domiciles translate into a durable advantage as larger global custodians enter the race.
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