FILE PHOTO: Smartphone with displayed Binance logo and representation of cryptocurrencies are placed on a keyboard in this illustration taken, June 8, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/ File Photo
MADRID (Reuters) -Binance is working with Spanish bank BBVA to allow customers to hold their assets off the cryptocurrency exchange, Financial Times reported on Friday.
The Spanish bank is working as one of only a small number of independent custodians for the world's biggest crypto exchange, the report added, citing two people familiar with the matter.
The move comes as Binance, the world's leading digital asset exchange, faces heightened regulatory scrutiny worldwide and as crypto exchanges seek to reassure investors about fund safety in the wake of FTX's 2022 collapse.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
A BBVA spokesperson said the bank does not comment on current or potential clients, adding that although it acts as a cryptocurrency custodian for individual customers in markets such as Turkey and Switzerland, where it offers the service for institutional investors.
Binance could not be immediately reached.
Last February, U.S. authorities fined Binance more than $4.3 billion for violating federal anti-money laundering and sanctions laws through lapses in internal controls at the company, while its founder and chief executive Changpeng Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison.
(Reporting by Abu Sultan in Bengaluru and Inti Landauro in Madrid; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
