Spanish banking giant Bankinter has taken a minority stake in crypto exchange Bit2Me, joining a 30 million euro ($33 million) funding round involving Tether in August 2025.
The investment adds another traditional bank to Bit2Me’s growing list of backers, which already includes major local financial institutions including BBVA, Unicaja and Cecabank.
Bit2Me, headquartered in Madrid, is among the first firms registered under the EU’s new Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, allowing it to operate across the entire European bloc. The company has positioned itself as a business-to-business gateway for banks seeking compliant access to crypto markets.
Bankinter said in a release that the deal is aimed at fostering “technological and knowledge-based synergies,” specifically in areas leveraging distributed ledger technology (DLT).
While exact terms weren’t disclosed, the agreement strengthens Bit2Me’s capital structure and adds weight to its regulatory ambitions in Europe and Latin America.
Over the past 18 months, Bit2Me has quietly embedded itself in traditional finance. It acts as a backend crypto service provider for Turkey’s Garanti BBVA, and jointly launched a custody and trading platform with Cecabank, according to documents shared with CoinDesk.
In a statement, Bit2Me CFO Pablo Casadío framed the Bankinter deal as a sign that banks are choosing collaboration over competition.
“This alliance confirms that the banking sector can leverage our deep industry know-how to enhance its offering. Instead of competing, we are integrating strengths,” Casadío said.
The firm’s ties to traditional financial institutions go deeper, however. In July 2024, Spanish bank Unicaja, through its investment arm Unicaja Ventures, acquired a stake of over 5% in the exchange and secured a seat on its board of directors.
