It was announced on Monday that Banco Galicia, the Argentinian bank with the largest market capitalization, has added the option to buy and sell cryptocurrencies on its platform, the company said.
A new feature has been added to the bank’s app through the investment section, providing users with the ability to buy bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), USDC and XRP by using their bank’s app. Customers have been told that this is a new feature for the bank.
The tie-up marks the latest collaboration between financial institutions and service providers to bring crypto to the masses. Earlier this year, PayPal hired Paxos and NYDIG attempted to push crypto to U.S. credit unions. In a recent CoinDesk report, the news outlet noted that Banco Galicia operates its crypto service through Lirium, which provides digital wallets and mobile banking apps based in Liechtenstein.
The bank responded to a Twitter user who asked if the service was available, saying it was adding new investment options.
According to Lirium COO Martin Kopacz, the bank offers users the opportunity to buy and sell cryptocurrency with Banco Galicia, but does not let them withdraw or send it. Kopacz also explained that the bank offers a custody service. It is expected that Banco Galicia would roll out the service to all its customers by mid-May at the latest, according to Kopacz.
In order to offer cryptocurrency trading and custody, Lirium partnered with OSL, a Hong Kong-based digital asset trading platform that first began operating in Latin America last October. As well as Lirium, four other Argentinian financial institutions are planning on launching a crypto-trading service, Kopacz said. The date of this launch was not disclosed. Additionally, Kopacz reports that Lirium is aiming to implement similar integration projects in Brazil and Mexico.
