Grupo Santander announced that as of today, September 16, their retail customers will be able to operate with Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies through OpenBank, the Digital Bank of the Santander Group. This way, Retail investors will have the opportunity to buy, sell or store BitcoinLitecoin (LTC), Cardano (ADA), Ethher (ETH), the native currency of Ethereum, among others. That is, OpenBank users can operate without having to move money to another platform. As reported, the service is not yet available in Spain (without a confirmed launch date) and promises to expand its available cryptocurrency portfolio, in addition to offering new functionalities such as conversion between different digital assets. The new OpenBank cryptocurrency trading service applies a 1.49% commission on the sale of assets, with a minimum of 1 euro per operation, and does not charge custody commission. While this rate can be considered competitive within the context of traditional banks, It is high if compared to other cryptocurrency exchangeswhere commissions usually range between 0.1% and 0.5% per operation. This means that users looking to minimize costs could find cheaper alternatives outside the banking environment. According to the statement, The initiative conforms to the European Regulation on Cryptactive Markets (MICA). As explained in cryptopedia, cryptootic educational section, Mica is a set of norms designed to provide legal certainty to operations, companies and investors within the digital asset sector.
