Bank Leumi to allow customers to trade cryptocurrencies in the Leumi Trade app

Bank Leumi announced today (Thursday) a cooperation agreement with the international company Galaxy Digital, under which it will offer its customers and PEPPER customers trading services for digital assets. This move, the first of its kind in the Israeli banking system, will enable trading in selected cryptocurrencies through the Leumi Trade app.

The service is planned to open to customers in early 2027, subject to receiving approval from the Bank of Israel. As part of the cooperation with Galaxy Digital Inc, which is traded on NASDAQ, the company's blockchain infrastructure and custody services, including the Galaxy Custody arm (formerly GK8), will be integrated into the bank's systems.

This initiative will allow customers to perform buying, holding, and selling operations of selected cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. Trading will take place in a dedicated, secure area within the Leumi Trade app, while custody—the management and secure holding of keys and digital assets—will be based on Galaxy's institutional infrastructure.

"We believe that digital assets are gradually becoming an integral part of the global financial system, and the bank's role is to enable access to them within a regulated and secure banking framework," noted Maya Raviv, Head of Strategy at Leumi.

The completion of the project remains conditional on regulatory approval from the Bank of Israel, which will examine the supervision and operational management aspects before the public launch. This move reflects a growing global trend of traditional financial institutions integrating digital asset infrastructure, marking another stage in blurring the lines between the traditional financial system and the world of digital assets.