Banca Sella, an Italian banking group known for tech experiments, has begun an internal trial that lets a handful of employees hold crypto, including stablecoins, through custody software from Fireblocks.
The trial runs until the end of the summer, after which executives will decide whether to open the vault to the groupโs 1.4 million customers who keep more than โฌ66 billion ($77.5 billion) under custody, Bloomberg reports.
Sellaโs test covers custody only. Trading in bitcoin or other volatile tokens is not on its roadmap, according to the story.
Europeโs clearer rules are nudging banks on the continent into the crypto space. Intesa Sanpaolo, Italyโs largest bank, opened a spot bitcoin desk in January alongside a โฌ1 million investment in the cryptocurrency.
UniCredit, another Italian bank, is planning a capital-protected note linked to BlackRockโs spot bitcoin ETF IBIT, while French banking giant Sociรฉtรฉ Gรฉnรฉrale is launching a dollar-backed stablecoin two years after introducing a euro-backed stablecoin.
