The European Central Bank (ECB) has announced the formation of a Market Advisory Group for the purpose of exploring the infrastructural and circulation potential of the digital euro from the perspective of industry spearheads. The group also aims to uncover the digital euros optimal function within the pan-European currency's vast payments ecosystem. The group includes a number of well-established experts from the banking and financial sector, including Aleksander Kurtevski, managing director of Bankart, Antonio Macías Vecino, head of payments discipline at BBVA and Axel Schaefer, payment regulation and innovation specialist at Ingka Group (Ikea), among others. It is expected that …

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) — Spain’s second-largest bank — is set to offer Bitcoin (BTC) trading and custody services in Switzerland. According to a release issued on Friday, BBVA Switzerland will begin Bitcoin trading for all private banking clients interested in crypto assets from June 21. This initial crypto trading service isonly for Bitcoin but the bank says it has plans to extend its offering to other cryptocurrencies. However, BBVA says its crypto trading desk will not include any digital asset investment advisory services. As part of the announcement, BBVA Switzerland revealed that the Bitcoin trading service will form …

The Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), a multinational bank headquartered in Spain, has announced a partnership with Madrid-based research center IMDEA Software Institution to explore zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) alongside other “advanced cryptographic techniques.” Both entities will freely utilize each other's technologies and research to drive innovation as quickly as possible. BBVA plans to offer products based on cryptography The partnership will see the institutions research a number of applications for cryptography in the context of the financial sector, including ways to ensure that data shared within a network is not vulnerable to exposure to third parties. A May 4 press …

Spain’s second-largest bank, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), has announced the launch of the first blockchain-backed platform for structured green bonds. The news was announced in a press release published on Feb. 19. BBVA has closed the deal with Spanish insurance house Mapfre, which has invested 35 million euros (approximately $40 million) to finance sustainable products. To close this deal, BBVA has “issued the first structured green bond using blockchain technology to negotiate the terms and conditions,” the press release states. The press release underlines that the funds have been specified for the financing of green projects, under the umbrella …

Spain’s second largest bank, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), has closed a €150 million loan using blockchain technology with Porsche Holding, the largest car distributor in Europe. The news was reported by financial news site Finextra Dec. 14. The transaction is reportedly BBVA’s first blockchain-based loans deal with a non-Spanish borrower. The bank has to date arranged several blockchain-based loans with Spanish corporate customers, including a syndicated loan of $150 million for partly state-owned Spanish national electrical grid operator Red Eléctrica de España (REE) in November, and a €100 million long-term bilateral corporate loan with Spanish engineering firm ACS. Finextra …

Banking groups BBVA and Banco Santander have joined the E.U. International Association for Trusted Blockchain Applications (IATBA), Spanish economic newspaper Expansion writes Nov. 20. The representatives of two Spanish banking groups were invited to an E.U. blockchain roundtable held in Brussels by Mariya Gabriel, the commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, and Roberto Viola, director of the E.U. Department of Communications Networks, Content and Technology. According to a BBVA press release, during the meeting officials revealed that the IATBA will be launched by the European Commission in the first financial quarter of 2019. The main aim of the association is …

Spain’s second largest bank, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), has carried out a blockchain-based syndicated loan of $150 million, U.K.-based global financial news agency Finextra reports Wednesday, Nov. 7. The syndicated bank transaction has been conducted on a private blockchain network through a group of three funding banks including French banking group BNP Paribas, Japan’s bank holding Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), and BBVA. Acting as the sole underwriter of the transaction, BBVA also secured the participation of a partly state-owned Spanish company Red Eléctrica de España, as well as two legal advisors, U.K.-based multinational law firms Linklaters and Herbert …

On Sept. 17, Europa Press reported on the contract the autonomous community of Aragon, one of the 17 Spanish autonomous communities, signed with Alastria — a blockchain ecosystem of more than 274 entities, including companies and institutions which create blockchain-based tools in line with Spanish and European Union legal frameworks. This blockchain is aimed to improve the transparency and efficiency of the administration, which in turn will attract business and investments. A week later, federal officials decided to keep up with their regional colleagues with the national Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food sharing plans to apply blockchain technology in …

Cryptocurrencies are "perfect", but are often used for bad purposes, executive chairman of multinational Spanish banking group Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) Francisco Gonzalez Rodriguez stated in an interview with CNBC Friday, September 14. Gonzalez has claimed that the world is going through "an incredible digital revolution" which will eventually lead to a new world order. However, the BBVA executive has also stressed that there are "ripple effects" that must be understood. He further explained the risks of digital technologies: "Cryptocurrencies are perfect, but are used for bad purposes today, so [one has to be] careful. Blockchain and distributed ledger …

Major Spanish banking group BBVA and Spanish energy company Repsol have signed an agreement to develop blockchain-based solutions for corporate banking, according to an announcement published June 20. The product by BBVA and Repsol was developed using multiple different blockchain technologies, namely Hyperledger and the Ethereum test network. Nuria Ávalos, the head of Blockchain and Digital Experimentation at Repsol, commented on the collaboration: “Repsol wants to actively take part in collaborative environments. Blockchain is a disruptive technology that is here to stay and the agreement with BBVA advances our strategy of driving digitization in all areas of our activity.” The …

Carlos Torres, CEO of Spanish bank BBVA, said blockchain technology is “not mature” and faces major challenges, el Economista reported June 18. Torres expressed his concerns about blockchain’s current limitations at an event organized by the Spanish Association for Economic Journalism which focused on the prospects of the technology. According to Torres, the main challenges for blockchain are the “volatility of underlying currencies” and possible compatibility issues with tax authorities and financial regulators. Despite its contemporary challenges, Torres said that the advantages of blockchain technology are so important to their business, that “when it is mature and regulators are ready,” …

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) has partnered with Blockchain company Waves to create a distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform for processing and handling shipping document submissions. The system, already being tested, was able to reduce the processing and handling times from 7-10 days, to just 2.5 hours. The first test was performed on a shipment of tuna from Mexico to Barcelona, Spain. Generally, such a purchase is completed using a letter of credit, which can often still involve manual checking of documents which would require at least a couple of weeks for full verification. However, with the immutable nature of …