What Will Bank Leumi Offer Customers?
Bank Leumi plans to introduce cryptocurrency trading for customers in early 2027, making Israel’s largest bank the first in the country to announce plans to integrate digital asset trading directly into its banking platform.
Customers of Leumi and PEPPER, its mobile banking arm, will be able to buy, hold and sell bitcoin, ether and solana through the Leumi Trade app. The bank also plans to support other selected cryptocurrencies, although the full list has not yet been disclosed.
The service will place crypto trading alongside more traditional investment products rather than requiring customers to move money to a standalone digital asset exchange. That structure could appeal to clients who want cryptocurrency exposure but prefer to keep trading, custody and account management within an existing banking relationship.
The companies have not disclosed trading fees, minimum investment requirements or which customers will initially be eligible. Those details will help determine whether the service is aimed mainly at retail users or whether Leumi also intends to target higher-value and more active investors.
Why Is Galaxy Digital Involved?
Galaxy Digital will provide the institutional trading infrastructure through GalaxyOne Institutional, its platform for banks and asset managers. Leumi has also agreed to use Galaxy’s custody technology to support the service.
The arrangement allows Leumi to add digital asset trading without building the entire trading and custody system internally. Galaxy, meanwhile, gains access to customers through a regulated banking partner rather than competing directly for retail accounts.
This model could become increasingly important as banks assess whether to offer crypto products themselves. Instead of creating exchanges and custody systems from scratch, financial institutions can use specialist infrastructure providers while controlling the customer relationship through their own apps.
For Galaxy, the deal also expands its institutional business beyond crypto-native companies. Banks can provide a large distribution channel for digital assets if customers become more comfortable buying tokens from the same platforms they use for stocks, funds and other investments.
Investor Takeaway
The Leumi-Galaxy deal shows how crypto access is moving closer to traditional banking. If customers prefer buying digital assets inside regulated bank apps, infrastructure providers such as Galaxy could gain from adoption even without owning the retail relationship.
Why Does The 2027 Launch Matter?
Bank Leumi has explored cryptocurrency trading before. In 2022, the bank announced a partnership with Paxos to provide crypto services, but that plan did not result in a broad customer launch.
The new agreement therefore faces an execution test. The difference this time is that institutional crypto infrastructure has developed further, while banks have gained more experience with digital asset custody, trading and compliance requirements.
Maya Ravia, Bank Leumi’s head of strategy, said digital assets are “gradually becoming an integral part of the global financial system.” By placing crypto inside Leumi Trade, the bank is effectively treating selected tokens as another category of investable assets rather than a service that must remain separate from mainstream finance.
The choice of bitcoin, ether and solana also provides a clue about how traditional institutions are approaching crypto. Rather than offering hundreds of tokens, banks may initially concentrate on large assets with deeper liquidity, greater institutional interest and more developed trading infrastructure.
Can Banks Take Crypto Activity From Exchanges?
Israel received an estimated $22 billion in onchain cryptocurrency value during the 12 months through June 2025. Across the Middle East and North Africa, activity exceeded $500 billion, rising 33% from the previous 12-month period.
That creates an existing pool of crypto demand that banks can try to bring inside regulated financial platforms. The competition is not necessarily about creating new users. It may instead be about where existing investors choose to hold and trade their assets.
Standalone exchanges still have advantages, including wider token selections, advanced trading tools and deeper crypto-specific services. Banks, however, can compete through customer trust, familiar payment rails and the convenience of holding traditional and digital investments under one financial relationship.
The outcome may be particularly important for infrastructure companies. If more banks follow Leumi, crypto trading could increasingly be distributed through traditional financial institutions while specialist firms operate the custody and execution systems behind the scenes.
For Leumi, the key question is whether customers will value the convenience enough to move trading activity away from crypto exchanges. For Galaxy, the larger opportunity is whether this partnership becomes a template that can be replicated with other banks seeking to add digital assets without building their own crypto infrastructure.
