Bank Leumi, Israel’s largest bank, said on 14th August, 2026 that it will offer Bitcoin, Ether and Solana trading to its customers through a partnership with Galaxy Digital Inc. (Nasdaq: GLXY). The Bank of Israel has not yet cleared the service.
The Big Picture
- Bank Leumi will let Leumi and PEPPER customers buy, hold and sell Bitcoin, Ether and Solana inside its Leumi Trade app.
- Galaxy Digital will supply the trading platform, GalaxyOne Institutional, plus custody through the unit formerly known as GK8.
- The Bank of Israel has not approved the service, and it turned down Leumi’s earlier crypto plan built with Paxos.
- Roughly 2.5 million Leumi retail clients would get access, giving the rollout unusual reach for a first-in-market bank product.
- Fees, withdrawal rules and tax mechanics remain undisclosed, and the launch is not expected until early 2027.
Leumi routes crypto orders through Galaxy’s institutional stack
Customers of Leumi and PEPPER, the bank’s mobile digital banking arm, will be able to buy, hold and sell selected digital assets, including Bitcoin, Ether and Solana, within the Leumi Trade capital markets application, according to the partnership announcement. Trading will sit in a dedicated, secured section of the app.
The bank signed two separate agreements with Galaxy. One covers GalaxyOne Institutional, Galaxy’s platform for banks, asset managers and other institutions; the other covers Galaxy’s Custody Infrastructure platform, formerly known as GK8, which will support the bank’s digital asset infrastructure. Leumi will also take responsibility for tax compliance on behalf of customers, which strips out one of the more tedious parts of retail crypto custody arrangements.
Maya Ravia, Head of Strategy at Bank Leumi, tied the move to the bank’s innovation strategy. She said:
The Bank of Israel blocked the same idea in 2022
Leumi has tried this before. The bank lined up Bitcoin and Ethereum trading with Paxos, then shelved the project after the Bank of Israel declined to grant regulatory approval, and nothing in the current announcement indicates the regulator has since cleared Leumi specifically.
🇮🇱 Bank Leumi is bringing crypto into mainstream banking through a new partnership with Galaxy Digital.
— CoinLaw (@coinlaw_io) August 14, 2026
Customers will be able to buy, hold and sell Bitcoin, Ether and Solana directly through the bank’s app starting in early 2027. pic.twitter.com/XfVOmCyCdu
Israel has moved its rules along in the meantime. The country advanced its framework for virtual asset service providers (VASPs, the licensed firms permitted to handle customer crypto) and relaxed deposit requirements for funds originating from digital assets, both of which give a bank a cleaner path through Israel’s crypto rulebook than it had before. The sign-off itself is still outstanding.
What Leumi has not disclosed?
The announcement leaves the commercial terms open. Neither company published a fee schedule, and the release says nothing about whether customers can move coins in from, or out to, a wallet they control themselves.
Four questions decide how much this actually changes for a Leumi client:
- Will the Bank of Israel approve the arrangement, and under what conditions?
- What will Leumi charge per trade, and how will its spreads sit against local exchanges?
- Can customers deposit or withdraw digital assets held elsewhere, or does the service run closed-loop?
- Which assets beyond Bitcoin, Ether and Solana count as “selected digital assets”?
Leumi customers who already hold crypto at an exchange have nothing to move today, since the service does not open until the launch window and external transfer support is unstated. Anyone counting on the bank’s tax handling should note that Leumi has not said whether it extends to assets held outside the bank.
Israeli retail banking gets a copyable template
Leumi’s structure splits the work three ways: the bank keeps the client relationship, Galaxy’s custody unit carries the security infrastructure, and GalaxyOne Institutional supplies execution. Rival Israeli lenders could copy that split without building custody in-house, which is the expensive piece that has kept most banks on the sidelines.
Distribution is the variable that makes this different from a fintech pilot. According to Crypto Briefing, more than 25% of Israel’s population has engaged with cryptocurrencies, and Leumi’s retail client base already opens the same app for mortgages, payroll and bill payments. Galaxy oversees approximately $9 billion in client assets and holds the financial licenses the arrangement requires, which is the profile Israeli regulators would scrutinize in any comparable bank crypto adoption deal.
CoinLaw’s Takeaway
This partnership solves a distribution problem. Israelis who wanted crypto exposure already had exchanges; the change on offer is buying it inside the app that holds their salary, with the bank carrying custody and the tax paperwork. Galaxy picks up a licensed bank as a channel, and Leumi picks up a product it does not have to build itself.
Leumi’s own history shows where the risk sits, because a bank can sign infrastructure deals and still never open the product when the binding constraint is the central bank rather than the vendor. The launch window leaves the Bank of Israel months to attach conditions, and whatever conditions it sets will define what every other Israeli bank is allowed to build afterward. Founded more than 120 years ago and operating without a controlling shareholder, Leumi is an unusually clean test case for that ruling.
