Tether-backed crypto exchange is ditching the ‘retail’ label to build the secret plumbing for Europe’s biggest banks
TL;DR
Spanish crypto exchange Bit2Me shifted from retail to B2B infrastructure for banks and law enforcement, securing an EU MiCA license and expanding across Europe. Trading volume surged eightfold to €5.3B as it provides backend services including crypto liquidation for governments.
Key Takeaways
- •Bit2Me transformed from a consumer platform to providing backend crypto infrastructure for European banks and law enforcement agencies.
- •The exchange secured an EU MiCA license after significant regulatory investment, enabling expansion into Portugal, Italy, France and Germany.
- •Bit2Me acts as a 'crypto liquidator' for Spanish authorities, converting seized digital assets to fiat currency using Chainalysis for traceability.
- •Business-to-business revenue grew from 18% to 27% of total revenue, with crypto-backed loans increasing 672% in one year.
- •The company is backed by major Spanish banks, Telefónica, and Tether, generating $25M in revenue with plans to enter competitive US and Middle East markets.
What to know:
- Spanish crypto exchange Bit2Me’s trading volume increased eightfold from 2023 to 2025, reaching 5.3 billion euros.
- That came as the company shifted its focus from a consumer platform to providing backend infrastructure for banks and law enforcement.
- Bit2Me secured an EU MiCA license and is expanding into new markets, including Portugal and Italy initially, with plans for a further rollout in France and Germany.
In this article
- Spanish crypto exchange Bit2Me’s trading volume increased eightfold from 2023 to 2025, reaching 5.3 billion euros.
- That came as the company shifted its focus from a consumer platform to providing backend infrastructure for banks and law enforcement.
- Bit2Me secured an EU MiCA license and is expanding into new markets, including Portugal and Italy initially, with plans for a further rollout in France and Germany.
Spain’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Bit2Me, moved 5.3 billion euros (around $6.24 billion) in trading volume in 2025, an eightfold jump since 2023, as it shifted from a consumer-facing platform to backend infrastructure for banks and law enforcement.
That volume was accompanied by growth in business-to-business revenue, which jumped from 18% of the total in 2023 to 27% in 2025. Crypto-backed loans, a relatively new offering, rose 672% in a single year, with the company’s CFO, Pablo Casadio, saying he sees the crypto industry entering a financial infrastructure phase that the company is taking advantage of, given its backing.
The exchange, backed by various banks including Bankinter, Unicaja, and Cecabank as well as telecom giant Telefónica and Tether, made $25 million in revenue last year.
Read more: Spanish bank Bankinter joins BBVA and Tether with stake in crypto exchange Bit2Me
Much of that came from a new API product that allows institutions to effectively outsource their crypto operations. Spanish wholesale bank Cecabank, which also holds a stake in the company, has integrated Bit2Me's infrastructure to offer digital asset services to other regional banks, complementing a similar liquidity deal with BBVA's Turkish crypto subsidiary, Garanti BBVA Kripto.
The exchange became the first in Spain to secure an EU Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) license and spent 3,000 hours on regulatory-compliant work and 2.5 million euros ($2.9 million) to achieve it, Bit2Me executives told reporters during a briefing.
The effort temporarily pushed its EBITDA into negative territory, but opened doors that few crypto firms can access and allowed it to start expanding. The company last week started expanding into the Portuguese market, with plans to enter Italy, France and Germany in the near future.
Bit2Me also unveiled that it has been eyeing the U.S. and Middle East markets, which are far more competitive. “If we do anything, it needs to be done the way we did it in Spain, everything by the book,” Andrei Manuel, the platform’s COO and co-founder, said during the briefing attended by CoinDesk.
Turning siezed crypto to fiat
It has also been acting as a "crypto liquidator" for the Spanish government. Bit2Me has built a pipeline to convert confiscated digital assets into euros, working directly with Interpol, Europol and national police, its executives added.
The system leverages blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis to ensure traceability. In 2025, Bit2Me processed 1.5 million euros ($1.76 million) in seized crypto on behalf of agencies that include Interpol, Europol, and Spanish police. These funds are converted into fiat currency for the state.
While other governments still auction off crypto through third parties, Spain’s direct liquidation model mirrors the U.S. Marshals Service’s deal with Coinbase.
- RedotPay, a Hong Kong-based stablecoin payments company, is preparing a U.S. IPO that could raise more than $1 billion and value the firm at over $4 billion, according to Bloomberg.
- The company, which became a unicorn in 2024 and now has more than 6 million registered users, has hired JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Jefferies to explore a New York listing as early as this year.
- Backed by major crypto investors including Accel, Pantera Capital and Blockchain Capital, RedotPay’s offering would be among the largest IPOs to emerge from Asia’s stablecoin sector.
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