Bank Leumi is stepping into the shadows of DeFi with a spooky cute partnership alongside Galaxy Digital 🖤 to bring Bitcoin (BTC) Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) trading live for about 2.5 million retail users starting early 2027.
Leumi Unlocks Digital Assets Through Galaxy ✨
Customers at Leumi plus its mobile arm PEPPER will dive into trades inside a secured slice of the Leumi Trade app where everything stays regulated and safe. GalaxyOne Institutional powers the platform while custody runs on Galaxy infrastructure that once went by GK8.
Regulator Blocked the 2022 Attempt 🕸️
This whole move still needs the green light from the Bank of Israel. Back in 2022 Leumi tried a similar BTC and ETH offer via Paxos but regulators paused it cold.
Rules have thawed since then with the Banking Supervision Department dropping automatic holds on crypto deposits over NIS 100000 as of mid-July. Israel pulled in roughly $22 billion in on-chain value over the past year according to Chainalysis.
A fresh draft from the Capital Market Authority could soon let licensed firms trade the top 50 digital assets if they clear a $500 million market cap bar plus holder limits and proper registrations in spots like the EU or New York State.
Custody Traces Back to Celsius 🌙
Galaxy snagged its custody tech straight from the Celsius wreckage after the bankrupt firm dropped $115 million on GK8 a Tel Aviv outfit. That purchase added 40 staff and a local office with co-founder Lior Lamesh now steering Galaxy Israel.
“The future of finance will run on open programmable rails and we believe the banks that move first will define the era that follows” stated Lior Lamesh Chief Executive Officer of Galaxy Israel.
“This initiative represents a significant pillar of the bank’s innovation strategy and enables us to provide customers with simple secure and regulated access to trading digital assets” said Maya Ravia Head of Strategy at Bank Leumi.
Just another echo from the void by iconofsin.eth 💖
