Societe Generale will be the first bank in France to offer Bitcoin trading and custody

(This article was published in the original version of the website on 7/20/2023)

Societe Generale (the parent company of Czech Komerční banka) has become the first company in France to obtain a license for Bitcoin services and will offer trading and administration to its customers. This significant achievement marks a new era in the French Bitcoin scene, as it joins the global trend of financial institutions such as BlackRock, Fidelity, Vanguard and others continuing to embrace the industry.

Innovation License

The license granted by the French market regulator AMF authorizes SocGen Bank to offer a range of services, including custody, trading and sales. Although a number of firms have registered with the AMF, including the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, licensed banks such as SocGen have higher standards. They are subject to stricter rules in the areas of corporate governance and compliance.

A quiet takeover of Bitcoin by companies from the world of traditional finance?

Many within the Bitcoin industry have long assumed that a stealthy takeover of the industry by traditional financial institutions was inevitable, as well as that regulators would slowly impose clearly articulated requirements on the industry to move the industry forward.

Regulators and politicians often confuse Bitcoin with cryptocurrencies. Whether by design or naivety, the result was that Bitcoin's reputation was burdened by scams carried out by crypto service providers such as FTX, Celsius and others, whose downfall brought about the longest bear market in Bitcoin's 14-year history.

It may turn out that regulators will actually favor traditional financial institutions, ostensibly because of better oversight and compliance. However, regulated banks are among the worst violators of money laundering laws, as well as customer privacy violations and lax KYC practices.