Today in crypto: BPCE will let millions of customers buy and sell BTC, ETH, SOL and USDC, Coinbase Institutional forecasts a strong year-end rally for Bitcoin. Meanwhile, Western Union announced it will roll out a “stable card” for high-inflation economies.
French banking giant BPCE to launch in-app crypto trading: Report
French banking heavyweight BPCE is preparing to introduce crypto trading to millions of its retail customers, making it one of the first major traditional European banks to offer digital assets.
According to a report from The Big Whale, the group will allow users to buy and sell Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Solana (SOL) and USDC (USDC) directly inside its Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Épargne mobile apps starting Monday.
The initial rollout will cover clients of four regional banks, including Banque Populaire Île-de-France and Caisse d’Épargne Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, reaching roughly 2 million customers. BPCE plans to extend the service gradually across its remaining 25 regional entities through 2026, ultimately making crypto trading available to its full 12-million-strong retail base.
A bank insider reportedly told The Big Whale that the phased approach is intended to “monitor how the service performs at launch” before scaling.
Bitcoin poised for year-end rally: Coinbase Institutional
Coinbase Institutional forecasts a strong year-end rally for Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market, driven by a growing global M2 supply and US Federal Reserve rate cuts.
“We think crypto could be poised for a December recovery as liquidity improves, Fed cut odds jump to 92% (as of Dec 4), and macro tailwinds build,” Coinbase Institutional wrote in a recent report.
The firm previously predicted Bitcoin’s October “weakness” based on money-supply dynamics and now expects a “December reversal” to follow.
A year-end rally would align with broader market patterns, as seasonality often contributes to the so-called “Santa Claus rally,” when asset prices tend to rise during the holiday period.
Western Union eyes inflation-resistant ‘stable cards’ as part of its stablecoin strategy
Western Union has unveiled plans to introduce a new “stable card” to protect users in high-inflation economies as part of its stablecoin strategy.
Speaking at the UBS Global Technology and AI conference, chief financial officer Matthew Cagwin said the initiative builds on the company’s investor-day reveal that it is moving beyond traditional cross-border payments and into a multi-pillar digital asset roadmap.
Cagwin pointed to Argentina, where annual inflation recently hit 250–300%, noting that remittances can lose nearly half their value in a month. “Imagine a world where your family in the US is sending you $500 home, but by the time you spend it in the next month, it’s only worth $300,” he said.
“We can see a good utility for our stable card there, which is an increment to our prepaid card we have today here in the US,” he added.