Bancolombia to Offer Crypto Trading in Financial Regulator's Pilot Program

Bancolombia, Colombia’s largest bank, will be offering cryptocurrency trading to customers in a pilot program within a regulatory framework established by the country’s financial regulator, the Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia (SFC). Customers of the Colombian bank will be able to trade bitcoin, ether, litecoin, and bitcoin cash.

Bancolombia to Offer Cryptocurrency Trading to Customers in Regulatory Sandbox

Bancolombia, the largest bank in Colombia by total assets, is set to offer cryptocurrency trading to customers in partnership with cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, a New York trust company and custodian regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services.

Cynthia Del Pozo Garcia, the exchange’s principal of strategy & corporate development, announced Monday that starting Dec. 14:

Gemini and Bancolombia will launch a partnership to provide an initial cohort of customers of the Colombian bank a seamless on- and off-ramp to trade bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), litecoin (LTC), and bitcoin cash (BCH) through the Gemini exchange.

The partnership with Bancolombia “also serves as an important step toward the strategic expansion” of its presence in Latin America, Gemini noted.

The exchange added:

Our partnership is part of a one-year pilot program run by Colombia’s financial regulator, the Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia (SFC), and will offer users seamless and secure access to crypto.

In January, the Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia announced that nine crypto initiatives will be allowed to test their products within the La Arenera regulatory sandbox.

Besides the Bancolombia and Gemini partnership, other partnerships in the sandbox are Banco de Bogotá and Bitso; Banco de Bogotá and Buda; Coltefinanciera and Obsidiam; Davivienda and Binance; Powwi and Binance; Coink and Banexcoin; Movii and Panda; and Movii and Bitpoint.