Spanish banking giant Bankinter has acquired a minority stake in cryptocurrency exchange Bit2Me. The investment was part of a 30 million euro funding round in August 2025 that also involved Tether.
Bankinter now joins a list of traditional financial institutions backing Bit2Me. This group already includes BBVA, Unicaja, and Cecabank.
Bit2Me is based in Madrid. It is among the first companies registered under the European Union's new Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation. This registration permits the firm to operate across the entire European bloc. The company describes itself as a business-to-business gateway for banks seeking compliant access to crypto markets.
In a release, Bankinter stated the deal aims to foster technological and knowledge-based synergies. The bank specifically mentioned areas that leverage distributed ledger technology.
Exact financial terms were not disclosed. The agreement is reported to strengthen Bit2Me's capital structure and support its regulatory ambitions in Europe and Latin America.
Over the past year and a half, Bit2Me has integrated into traditional finance. According to documents shared with CoinDesk, it acts as a backend crypto service provider for Turkey's Garanti BBVA. The company also jointly launched a custody and trading platform with Cecabank.
Bit2Me CFO Pablo Casadío commented on the deal in a statement. He framed it 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 exchange's connections with traditional banks extend further. In July 2024, Spanish bank Unicaja, through its investment arm Unicaja Ventures, acquired a stake exceeding 5% in Bit2Me. That investment also secured Unicaja a seat on the exchange's board of directors.