Bank Leumi Prepares for Bitcoin and Ether Trading by 2027
Israel's oldest bank, Bank Leumi, is preparing to offer Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana trading through its banking platforms as early as 2027. The service will be made available through Leumi's mobile banking arm, PEPPER, within a sealed-off section of the Leumi Trade investment app.
The partnership with Galaxy Digital Inc., a Nasdaq-listed crypto firm led by Mike Novogratz, will supply the trading and custody machinery behind the proposed service. Custody is the unglamorous but critical business of protecting assets and the private keys that move them.
The proposed service could force other major Israeli banks to follow suit, as Israel's banking supervisors advanced draft rules in mid-2026 that would treat some transfers from licensed virtual asset service providers as lower risk. This change may make banks less afraid of crypto on-ramps and off-ramps, the pipes that move money between the banking system and digital asset markets.