Bank Leumi, Israel's largest bank, has partnered with Galaxy Digital to let customers buy, hold and sell Bitcoin, Ether and Solana directly through the bank's own platform. Customers of Leumi and its mobile banking arm, Pepper, will access the three assets through a dedicated section of the Leumi Trade app, with the service targeted to go live in early 2027.
Under the arrangement, Leumi will use GalaxyOne Institutional to handle trading and execution, while Galaxy's custody infrastructure platform — formerly branded GK8 — will support the bank's digital-asset custody needs. The partnership would make Leumi the first Israeli bank to offer native digital-asset trading services to retail customers.
A Second Attempt After a Stalled 2022 Plan
The rollout still requires approval from the Bank of Israel — the same regulatory gate that blocked an earlier Leumi plan in 2022 to offer crypto custody in partnership with Paxos. That history means the early-2027 target is not guaranteed, and it underscores how Israeli banking regulators have functioned as the primary bottleneck for bank-level crypto adoption in the country even as retail demand for digital assets has continued to grow.
Part of a Broader Pattern of Bank-Crypto Tie-Ups
Leumi's move mirrors a wider trend of established banks partnering with specialist crypto infrastructure firms rather than building trading and custody capability in-house — a path also taken by wealth managers now disclosing direct Bitcoin ETF exposure through existing fund structures. The approach lets a regulated bank offer digital-asset access to its existing customer base while outsourcing the technical custody and execution risk to a firm that specializes in it.
Related: Edelman, Tudor Investment Disclose Fresh Bitcoin ETF Positions
If the Bank of Israel signs off, Leumi would become one of the first major national banks in the region to offer native crypto trading to retail customers, a milestone other regional banks weighing similar partnerships are likely to watch closely before committing to their own rollouts.
