Spanish lender Bankinter has taken a minority stake in crypto exchange Bit2Me as part of a funding round announced in August 2025 that raised roughly between €30 million and $35 million. The round was led by stablecoin issuer Tether and included BBVA, Unicaja, and Cecabank, strengthening Bit2Me’s capital base as it targets expansion across Europe and Latin America.
The deal also reflects a deeper operational alignment between traditional banks and crypto market infrastructure, with Bankinter pointing to distributed ledger technology and shared know-how as strategic priorities.
Round structure and strategic intent
The August 2025 raise was organized as a syndicate led by Tether with participation from multiple Spanish financial groups, including Bankinter alongside BBVA, Unicaja, and Cecabank. Positioning the round around institutional participation signals a clear push toward a more bank-adjacent capital stack for Bit2Me.
Bankinter framed its stake as a bid to create “technological and knowledge-based synergies” with Bit2Me rather than a purely financial investment thesis. The capital injection was positioned as balance-sheet reinforcement and an accelerant for expansion into European and Latin American markets.
Regulatory footing and bank-to-crypto plumbing
Bit2Me also strengthened its regulatory posture with a Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) authorization obtained in July 2025, a milestone tied to operating within the EU framework. Coverage described Bit2Me as the first Spanish-language fintech to secure that type of EU crypto-asset service provider approval, adding formal credibility to its commercial rollout.
Operationally, Bit2Me has already shown it can integrate into traditional finance workflows. Over the prior 18 months it served as the backend execution center for Garanti BBVA Kripto in Türkiye, and it also worked with Cecabank on custody and trading infrastructure, reinforcing a model where an exchange supplies execution and rails while banks maintain customer distribution.
To keep the core facts clear, the headline items were: a reported €30 million to $35 million round announced in August 2025, led by Tether with participation from BBVA, Unicaja, Cecabank, and Bankinter, plus MiCA authorization in July 2025 and legacy-bank integrations tied to execution and custody infrastructure.
From a market-structure standpoint, more bank participation can reduce counterparty asymmetry and improve distribution, while MiCA alignment can lower operational friction for euro-area activity. At the same time, greater institutional involvement can concentrate key relationships, affecting how access, custody, and hedging dynamics get negotiated.
