Unicaja has reached an investment agreement with Bit2Me, a leading company in digital assets services for individuals and companies, under which it acquires more than 5% of its capital and becomes the financial institution of reference of the Alicante fintech in Spain.
The transaction has been carried out through Unicaja Ventures, Grupo Unicaja’s new project aimed at making investments in the fintech-startup world.
The investment entitles Unicaja to join Bit2Me’s board of directors, as well as the signing of a commercial agreement between both companies to explore synergies in the development of new innovative financial products.
This alliance will allow Unicaja to respond to the innovations that may arise from the upcoming entry into force of the European regulations MiCA (Markets in Crypto Assets), which regulates the issuance, custody and sale and purchase of cryptocurrencies; Pilot Regime, which sets the applicable rules for the creation of new financial markets for digitized (tokenized) assets in Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) or blockchain, and the future digital euro.
Bit2Me, the first Spanish company to obtain the Bank of Spain’s registration as cryptocurrency service provider and the Spanish-speaking leader in the crypto sector, will be able to offer its more than one million customers Unicaja’s banking services.
Unicaja’s objective with this investment is to position the bank, together with a national technology partner, in the development of DLT technology solutions. Likewise, Bit2Me expects to strengthen and expand its leadership in view of the imminent arrival of MiCA.
For Isidro Rubiales, CEO of Unicaja, this transaction responds to “our institution’s commitment to technology innovation, as well as to take advantage of the opportunity to generate synergies with startups specializing in fintechs, as it is the case of Bit2Me, to anticipate the future and incorporate solutions that enrich its services and facilitate its adaptation to the changes demanded by customers”.
For his part, Severino J. Méndez, Unicaja’s general manager of Transformation, considers that “this alliance allows the bank to have a technological partner of reference, such as Bit2Me, to face the regulatory change that is taking place in the sector with greater guarantees”.
For Leif Ferreira, CEO and co-founder of Bit2Me, “with this investment we seek to strengthen our positions as industry leaders, taking advantage of Unicaja’s support and experience to boost our growth and development”.
For Andrei Manuel, COO and co-founder of Bit2Me, “Bit2Me’s goal is to offer innovative and secure solutions that not only comply with the new regulations, such as MiCA, but also anticipate the implications of the future digital euro and the tokenization of financial assets under the framework of the European Pilot Regime. This collaboration will allow us to expand our technology and operational capabilities, providing our users with advanced products and services, as well as to increase confidence and credibility in the market”.
Combination of talent and capabilities
Both companies hope to combine talent and capabilities to jointly lead the new scenario of innovations that will arise in the financial sector from 2025, with the entry into force of MiCA, and from 2026, with the expected arrival of the digital euro. Those regulations will require financial institutions to have specific technological and staff capabilities, on which Unicaja is already working.
All of the above while maintaining the shared values of security, transparency, professionalism and seriousness in regulatory compliance, as well as the commitment to help its customers prosper.
