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Banca Sella Says It Will Become Italy’s First Bank to Offer Crypto Services

Banca Sella Says It Will Become Italy’s First Bank to Offer Crypto Services

According to the new report, Banca Sella has received Bank of Italy authorization under MiCA, moving its planned institutional crypto custody and transfer services closer to launch by 2026.

Fact Check
Multiple Italian and international sources dated 27 May 2026 corroborate the claim. The financecommunity.it headline 'Sella prima banca in Italia a poter avviare servizi di cripto-attività' explicitly states Banca Sella completed notification to the Bank of Italy and is the first Italian bank able to begin crypto-asset services including custody and transfer. PANews (citing Solid Intel) and the Solid Intel X post confirm Banca Sella becoming the first major Italian bank to offer Bitcoin services through its Hype app. Newsbiella.it aggregator confirms same-day headline. Although the full text of the financecommunity.it article was blocked by CAPTCHA, the headline and snippet directly support the claim.
Summary

Banca Sella’s planned crypto offering moved forward after the Italian lender received Bank of Italy authorization under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, according to the new report. The bank previously said it had completed the MiCA notification process on May 27, 2026 and plans to launch digital asset custody, receipt and transfer services before the end of 2026 for select corporate and institutional clients, without announcing trading services. The existing topic also notes the bank’s earlier DLT work through the Bank of Italy’s Fintech Milano Hub, its July 2025 internal crypto custody pilot using Fireblocks, and its role as a founding member of the Qivalis stablecoin consortium.

Terms & Concepts
  • MiCA: The European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, which sets a regulatory framework for crypto-asset services and issuers across the bloc.
  • Digital asset custody: A service that stores and safeguards crypto assets for clients, typically using regulated infrastructure and institutional security controls.
  • DLT: Distributed ledger technology, a shared record-keeping system used in blockchain-based networks and related financial infrastructure.