Banca Sella has turn out to be the primary Italian financial institution to obtain authorization to supply cryptocurrency providers below the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Property Regulation, finishing its notification course of with the Financial institution of Italy on Could 27, 2026.
The Biella-based financial institution plans to launch custody and switch providers for digital property earlier than the tip of 2026, focusing on choose buyer classes.
Underneath MiCA, credit score establishments can enter sure crypto-asset providers by way of a notification course of with their nationwide regulator — a lighter path than the complete licensing required for non-bank entities. Banca Sella filed its notification 40 days upfront, as required, and cleared the method and not using a full licensing overview. The financial institution didn’t announce buying and selling providers; its preliminary providing facilities on custody, receipt, and switch of digital property for company and institutional purchasers.
The transfer is the product of years of inner funding. Banca Sella participated within the Financial institution of Italy’s Fintech Milano Hub pilot program on distributed ledger expertise starting in 2022, and established a devoted in-house DLT and Digital Property group.
In July 2025, the financial institution ran an inner crypto custody pilot utilizing Fireblocks infrastructure, beginning with a small group of staff holding digital property together with stablecoins. That pilot coated custody solely — no buying and selling — as executives assessed whether or not to increase providers to the financial institution’s 1.4 million prospects, who maintain over €66 billion in property below custody.
Banca Sella can be a founding member of Qivalis, a consortium of 37 European banks constructing a MiCA-compliant euro-denominated stablecoin. The consortium — which incorporates ING, UniCredit, CaixaBank, KBC, Danske Financial institution, DekaBank, SEB, and Raiffeisen Financial institution Worldwide — is headquartered in Amsterdam and led by former Coinbase Germany CEO Jan-Oliver Promote. Qivalis targets a second-half 2026 launch, pending an e-money establishment license from the Dutch central financial institution, and is designed to allow near-instant cross-border funds with programmable settlement.
Banca Sella’s bitcoin and crypto push
Italy’s broader banking sector is transferring on crypto in parallel. Intesa Sanpaolo, the nation’s largest financial institution, now holds over €200 million in Bitcoin and different crypto after opening a spot Bitcoin desk in January 2025.
UniCredit has explored capital-protected notes linked to BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF and can be a Qivalis founding member.
On the U.S. aspect, exterior a handful of Wall Road corporations with restricted crypto publicity, US banks nonetheless lack the regulatory framework to supply custody, switch, or stablecoin providers at scale. The EU, in contrast, now has 17 approved digital cash token issuers throughout 10 international locations, with 25 regulated stablecoins authorised below MiCA.
“To be the primary Italian financial institution in a position to supply custody and switch providers for crypto property is a serious step, consistent with the broader European transition in direction of new digital fashions,” stated Andrea Tessera, Managing Director of Digital Banking at Banca Sella.
Tessera described the shift in funds towards “instantaneous, interoperable, and programmable fashions” as one that’s reshaping monetary infrastructure on the European and international stage. Banca Sella’s authorization positions the financial institution on the entrance of that transition as different Italian establishments work by way of the identical regulatory steps.