Tether-backed crypto exchange is ditching the ‘retail’ label to build the secret plumbing for Europe’s biggest banks

Finance Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Tether-backed crypto exchange is ditching the ‘retail’ label to build the secret plumbing for Europe’s biggest banks Bit2Me secured an EU MiCA license and is expanding into new markets, including Portugal and Italy initially, with plans for a further rollout in France and Germany. By Francisco Rodrigues Feb 24, 2026, 4:30 a.m. Make us preferred on Google (Bit2Me) What to know : Spanish crypto exchange Bit2Me’s trading volume increased eightfold from 2023 to 2025, reaching 5.3 billion euros. That came as the company shifted its focus from a consumer platform to providing backend infrastructure for banks and law enforcement. Bit2Me secured an EU MiCA license and is expanding into new markets, including Portugal and Italy initially, with plans for a further rollout in France and Germany. Spain’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Bit2Me, moved 5.3 billion euros (around $6.24 billion) in trading volume in 2025, an eightfold jump since 2023, as it shifted from a consumer-facing platform to backend infrastructure for banks and law enforcement. That volume was accompanied by growth in business-to-business revenue, which jumped from 18% of the total in 2023 to 27% in 2025. Crypto-backed loans, a relatively new offering, rose 672% in a single year, with the company’s CFO, Pablo Casadio, saying he sees the crypto industry entering a financial infrastructure phase that the company is taking advantage of, given its backing. STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today . See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy . The exchange, backed by various banks including Bankinter, Unicaja, and Cecabank as well as telecom giant Telefónica and Tether, made $25 million in revenue last year. Read more: Spanish bank Bankinter joins BBVA and Tether with stake in crypto exchange Bit2Me Much of that came from a new API product that allows institutions to effectively outsource their crypto operations. Spanish wholesale bank Cecabank, which also holds a stake in the company, has integrated Bit2Me's infrastructure to offer digital asset services to other regional banks, complementing a similar liquidity deal with BBVA's Turkish crypto subsidiary, Garanti BBVA Kripto. The exchange became the first in Spain to secure an EU Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) license and spent 3,000 hours on regulatory-compliant work and 2.5 million euros ($2.9 million) to achieve it, Bit2Me executives told reporters during a briefing. The effort temporarily pushed its EBITDA into negative territory, but opened doors that few crypto firms can access and allowed it to start expanding. The company last week started expanding into the Portuguese market, with plans to enter Italy, France and Germany in the near future. Bit2Me also unveiled that it has been eyeing the U.S. and Middle East markets, which are far more competitive. “If we do anything, it needs to be done the way we did it in Spain, everything by the book,” Andrei Manuel, the platform’s COO and co-founder, said during the briefing attended by CoinDesk. Turning siezed crypto to fiat It has also been acting as a "crypto liquidator" for the Spanish government. Bit2Me has built a pipeline to convert confiscated digital assets into euros, working directly with Interpol, Europol and national police, its executives added. The system leverages blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis to ensure traceability. In 2025, Bit2Me processed 1.5 million euros ($1.76 million) in seized crypto on behalf of agencies that include Interpol, Europol, and Spanish police. These funds are converted into fiat currency for the state. While other governments still auction off crypto through third parties, Spain’s direct liquidation model mirrors the U.S. Marshals Service’s deal with Coinbase . Bit2Me Crypto Exchanges Infrastructure More For You IoTeX offers cross-bridge hackers 10% bounty if they return $4.4 million within 48 hours By Olivier Acuna | Edited by Nikhilesh De 7 hours ago Raullen Chai, IoTeX co-founder and CEO, told CoinDesk he would not press charges if the stolen assets or its equivalent is returned within 48 hours. What to know : IoTeX is offering a 10% white-hat bounty, about $440,000, and a promise not to pursue legal action if hackers return roughly $4.4 million stolen from its ioTube cross-chain bridge within 48 hours. The Feb. 21 exploit stemmed from a compromised validator owner private key on the Ethereum side of the ioTube bridge, which IoTeX and outside experts describe as an operational security failure rather than a flaw in the Layer 1 blockchain or its smart contracts. IoTeX traced the stolen funds across chains, identified bitcoin addresses holding about 66.6 BTC, and is rolling out a mainnet upgrade with a default blacklist of malicious addresses, but experts warn that assets already swapped and bridged may be difficult or unlikely to recover. 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