Discount Bank Tower in Tel Aviv: Danielrosehill / Wikimedia (CC BY 4.0, cropped)
Israel Discount Bank said Wednesday it will let customers buy, hold and sell bitcoin and ethereum directly from its mobile app starting November 26, in what the bank called a first for Israel’s banking system.
The service will let customers trade straight from their bank accounts, without opening a dedicated digital wallet or registering with foreign crypto exchanges, the bank said in its announcement. Proceeds from sales will go directly into the customer’s account. Customers will be able to manage stocks, bonds and crypto in one place.
Access will be limited to customers aged 18 and over who have signed their accounts up for securities activity, the bank said, citing the risk profile of crypto trading.
Customers’ digital assets will be held in the bank’s wallets through Fireblocks, a financial technology company that provides secured infrastructure for storing and transferring digital assets for financial institutions.
The service will allow customers to offset capital gains and losses within their investment portfolios for withholding-tax purposes. The bank is waiving account management fees for the first six months and said trading commissions would be attractive; it did not publish rates.
Discount Group CEO Avi Levy called the launch a first step toward building advanced technological infrastructure in digital currencies and expanding the bank’s capabilities in the field. The move was led by Elad Fisher, head of the bank’s financial markets division.
Bank custody does not remove the risk of loss. In its own disclosures, the bank warned that trading digital currencies carries an exceptional level of risk, high volatility and the possibility of losing the entire investment, and that its announcement is not investment advice.
JBizNews Desk | Tel Aviv
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