The post French banking giant BPCE will start letting customers buy Bitcoin and major tokens on Monday appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Key Takeaways BPCE is allowing customers to buy Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, and USDC directly through its apps in a phased rollout starting with 2 million clients. The rollout begins with four of the group’s 29 regional banks, with a full expansion planned through 2026 as the bank monitors early performance. BPCE, France’s second-largest banking group, will start letting customers buy Bitcoin and other major coins next Monday, according to a new report from The Big Whale. The service will launch at four regional banks, targeting around two million clients, before expanding to the rest of the group’s entities in 2026. Banque Populaire Île-de-France and Caisse d’Épargne Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur are among the first to offer access. Purchases and sales will occur inside existing banking apps via a dedicated digital asset account priced at €2.99 per month and a 1.5% trading fee. Hexarq, BPCE’s crypto subsidiary, oversees account operations. The rollout comes almost a year after Hexarq secured PSAN authorization to operate digital asset services. The subsidiary will spearhead BPCE’s expansion into digital assets after years of maintaining a low profile in the sector. The move comes as France accelerates MiCA rollout and attracts players like Gemini under its updated regulatory regime. Source: https://cryptobriefing.com/buy-bitcoin-france-bpce-launch/The post French banking giant BPCE will start letting customers buy Bitcoin and major tokens on Monday appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Key Takeaways BPCE is allowing customers to buy Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, and USDC directly through its apps in a phased rollout starting with 2 million clients. The rollout begins with four of the group’s 29 regional banks, with a full expansion planned through 2026 as the bank monitors early performance. BPCE, France’s second-largest banking group, will start letting customers buy Bitcoin and other major coins next Monday, according to a new report from The Big Whale. The service will launch at four regional banks, targeting around two million clients, before expanding to the rest of the group’s entities in 2026. Banque Populaire Île-de-France and Caisse d’Épargne Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur are among the first to offer access. Purchases and sales will occur inside existing banking apps via a dedicated digital asset account priced at €2.99 per month and a 1.5% trading fee. Hexarq, BPCE’s crypto subsidiary, oversees account operations. The rollout comes almost a year after Hexarq secured PSAN authorization to operate digital asset services. The subsidiary will spearhead BPCE’s expansion into digital assets after years of maintaining a low profile in the sector. The move comes as France accelerates MiCA rollout and attracts players like Gemini under its updated regulatory regime. Source: https://cryptobriefing.com/buy-bitcoin-france-bpce-launch/

                                                                               Legal experts are concerned that transforming ESMA into the “European SEC” may hinder the licensing of crypto and fintech in the region.                     The European Commission’s proposal to expand the powers of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is raising concerns about the centralization of the bloc’s licensing regime, despite signaling deeper institutional ambitions for its capital markets structure.On Thursday, the Commission published a package proposing to “direct supervisory competences” for key pieces of market infrastructure, including crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), trading venues and central counterparties to ESMA, Cointelegraph reported.Concerningly, the ESMA’s jurisdiction would extend to both the supervision and licensing of all European crypto and financial technology (fintech) firms, potentially leading to slower licensing regimes and hindering startup development, according to Faustine Fleuret, head of public affairs at decentralized lending protocol Morpho.Read more