Bitcoin Forum

Recently, Italian banks have opened up their own crypto trading services. Not only is it for trading, but the crypto traded can also be used as a mode of payments for goods and services. It's also a timely decision by them especially with the quarantines happening all over the place, and even if there wasn't one, people would still be quite afraid of going outside in fear of being infected by the virus. Don't tell me about how the chances are close to null if there isn't anyone infected in your place, fear can be quite a fearsome thing.

It's quite encouraging that even among banks, some fully support the development of Cryptocurrency and would even be the one to start influencing their fellow countrymen of its existence. Plus, they're also fully integrating it into their everyday transactions. I'm not particular about the specifics of how the system does the trading, but based on the article, no KYC is involved which is another plus factor imo.

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/italian-bank-opens-bitcoin-trading-to-12-million-during-lockdown (https://cointelegraph.com/news/italian-bank-opens-bitcoin-trading-to-12-million-during-lockdown)

Good news but bad timing. Considering that the Italian government has decided to extend the lock down, there are a lot of uncertainties with jobs and especially health. I think people in Italy have other things on their mind right now, like staying healthy and keeping their loved ones safe. Trying to make money is not on top of their to-do-list right now.   

It's not about making money of course. The whole point is that people don't have to touch the fiat which may spread the virus more and more. Since, using crypto is now more easier in Italy, they may not have the necessity of using fiat at all for a while. That's good for them to resist the virus, good for the bitcoin ccommunity too.

Correct.

Im not sure why they roll it now, after so much damages and casualties has been reported and happened. Crypto can help on avoiding such contact to those many people by means of using its online services. They should implemented it earlier to avoid such causes, but anyway good thing is now they implemented it and can help to add addtional option to usage of availing goods and services.

l could see why they've done this, it is because the covid virus rapidly infect thousand of people and the death toll have risen significantly. The Italian government realize that people should not use cash to buy stuff cause it may also contain the virus. In times like this, cryptocurrency payment is a much more safer and viable way to prevent the furthering of disease. This event will prove Bitcoin's true usefulness.

There are of course some things to consider:

- You purchase BTC through the bank, at their rates.

- The amount of BTC you can purchase is limited to 50K€/year with a premium account (2,5K/year with the basic account), which charges 9,90€/month.

- There is a 2% commission for TXs (some sources cite 1%, but the official press release I’ve read in Italian states 2%).

- You need to be a Hype customer, which require registration (requires at least full name, id, email, phone number).

- Apparently, the customer has control to the private keys, although the information talks about:

I personally don’t fully understand how it works, so whoever is interested should look into it further.

So it looks like a way to bypass the use of Exchanges, but at a higher commission rate, although with access to the Hype ecosystem that allows you to spend those purchased BTCs through their platform. Not something to rush to in my opinion, but it may attract a segment of the novice crypto market there in Italy (the private keys thingy still bugs me as to the specifics).

https://www.somagnews.com/italian-bank-starts-selling-bitcoin-amid-global-crisis/
https://www.the-blockchain.com/2020/03/20/hype-bitcoin-trading-now-open-via-banca-sella-to-1-2-million-italians-customers-during-lockdown/

That was quite good too because they are now appreciating the bitcoin just to make an investment still it is quite good if they are trying to make more profit with the help of bitcoin. Today bitcoin is one of the best coins that you can make a lot of income by this you can now make a lot of advantages and improvements by the transaction you have today. Also, bitcoin or the cryptocurrency is one of the best things we need to adopt today because we are avoiding having transactions of physical money because it may cause spreading the virus we are having today. It is better to avoid for a while the use of face to face transactions and conversation instead adopt the use of digital currency.

That definitely is number one priority, however when government funding isn't covering their bills, and more importantly they can't feed their family some might opt to get into Bitcoin to try and recuperate their money. Its a risky solution, but will definitely appeal to certain people within the world. Unfortunately, the way the world works is a lot of people will put money before a lot more important things.

I'll be honest during the dip in Bitcoin price I wanted to purchase a large amount before I was blocked by my bank. This was a calculated move, and the pandemic had no effect on the decision in fact it didn't even enter my mind at the time. However, now that I'm thinking about the pandemic, and a potential lock down in my country its got me thinking that maybe keeping my money might have been the best outcome because of local businesses for food will not be accepting Bitcoin. I'm still kind of annoyed that I couldn't purchase it at the time, but these are things that need to be considered, and I'm hoping that not too many people in Italy have done an impulse buy before considering the long term effects that COVID19 could have. I think due to their circumstances (being in lock down), that a lot of people would have been more aware of the effects than myself, and other people from other countries.

We will see even wider bank adoption in future. Here in Germany banks already thinks about it

Not the best time to implement such. And this might even confuse merchants and citizens should it get recommended by their banks and/or authorities for purchase. Nevertheless though, at least they see the importance of bitcoin in times like this wherein physical cash is not viable for use by the public. Digital currencies excel in situations wherein physical contact should be limited, plus it saves a lot of time and effort as well. But then, knowing the general age of people in Italy, it might be long before they fully adapt bitcoin even though banks have somewhat initiated the interest kn the said digital currency.

I agree with that. Bitcoin trading isn't exactly a priority when hundreds are dying every day, and things don't seem to be getting better. However, perhaps it can be helpful if EUR starts to crash following the harsh situation in Europe (it's not just Italy, multiple Western European countries have thousands infected now), so people can switch to fiat for Bitcoin. Otherwise, I don't think it'll help with adoption.

They just need to save face, since there is need to encourage cashless transaction now, one of the ways to facilitate this is though Bitcoin. I know some people will say bad timing but wrong, because those people expose to Bitcoin now, now understand its advantage over Fiat.

That's dead confusing. There is of course one question that always needs answering - can you deposit and withdraw to and from a wallet completely under your control? If it's saying you need the second key to complete transactions and they control it then perhaps not but equally that might be just for on platform transactions.

They need to give us more info.

Good news but Italy is in bad shape and with those considerations mentioned by Ddmr.

It's confusing how people that doesn't really use bitcoin will be able to own bitcoin.

You are rigth, at the moment the situation is very bad , right now it's a worldwide problem, my fear will be after the coronavirus, the world economy may be in danger, and we don't know what will happen next.

In any case, this is a reasonable step on the part of the Italian government. The time for the introduction of bitcoin for citizens through the banking system will never be ideal. True, the maintenance of such a bank account in bitcoins seems to me a little expensive. However, the main thing is to start so that this mechanism works. In the future, the operating conditions of such accounts may vary depending on specific circumstances.

I think this reason why bitcoin suddenly break to higher price last day after bitcoin trading by Italian bank, Italian become country have bigger effect of corona virus and they try to accept bitcoin as transaction payment to get their people keep away and safety from corona virus than using cash money.

With the complicated situation of covid-19, I think that although this is good news, but surely that the health of everyone is above all, making more profits from the market at the present time is no longer a top issue of people too.

Mind over matter I think. How come those unfamiliar with crypto will become an enthusiasts out of sudden situation. I like Italy move but they just showing how they create decision when the time isnt appropriate. They should have done this before not even the spreading of this virus, now they are introducing on a rush event things like trading bitcoin. People from their country now are also in the midst of confusion, but for some old timer who lives there, they can rip now the advantage of dealing with cashless in spitr of the incident there.

I guess we can call it a good news. Crisis situation can change many things and that is what is happening in Italy. It has been the most affected nation by this damm virus. I hope things change for better for the people living in that country.

Who knows? After the COVID crisis, people will realize the importance of cryptocurrency especially bitcoin, when they have no means of transaction online. I am pretty sure that the situation not just thought us about being careful and clean, it also thought us about being open to technology, adopting cryptocurrency will allow us to transact even without direct contact to the person.

Regarding to the Italian Banks, Is it too late that they have just allow it in the critical time like this? I think they should've done this before so that it helped allot of people.

I don't know, I would say it's never too late. Bitcoin was born during the last economic crisis. One might even say it was a great necessity to finally push it out to the world. If the economy never crashed, if the banks never got bailed out, people would never have needed to find a use for Bitcoin.

Same as all the "bad things" that happened to Bitcoin in the past. Necessity drives invention. People learnt P2P when governments banned it. People learnt to use their own wallets when Mt Gox crashes. Never too late!

As I have reported in another thread...

Ok, this is what I was looking for to complement what I said in a prior post about BTC ownership:

The above looks like the customer does not really have the conventional private keys, but rather security is managed by a layer of security provided by distributed keys for use within the platform. That should be taken into consideration and studied in greater detail by the potential customers. I would infer from the above that the bank is the custodial really (if anyone from Italy can further clarify, please do (fillippone? – this may hopefully summon him to this thread …))

See: https://dailyhodl.com/2020/03/21/private-bank-launching-bitcoin-btc-trading-for-huge-customer-base-amid-ongoing-lockdown/

Note: The service is Beta-testing, and is not expected to roll-out until end of month (according to the above article).

It's sad, but the whole world may be heading in this direction. The epidemic is growing day by day and has increased its effect especially in Europe. As I always say, monetary value makes no sense in this environment. But it is important to remember that cryptocurrencies are unique for such environments. Safe, reliable, community-based, and, as we always say, something decentralized is everyone's needs right now.

Banks are seeing a dwindling revenue as a result of ths crisis, so they need to stay profitable otherwise they may as well lay off some staff and be forced to make some adjustment. They need to be innovative and stay in business or remain rigid and run into crisis like Nokia phones did.

When a person won't go to the job and won't be able to pay the banks and stuff at the end of the day they will make everything possible for the people , they are just expecting to earn from at least some place .
When people ask them to do so they won't. But when in the time of crisis the government is failing, they are now accepting Bitcoins which they were against till the beginning.
But this is actually good because they see the importance of Bitcoins now.

Finally I read some goods news regarding Bitcoin but the timing is not so well chose, right ? But then again, no country wants to encourage their people to buy Bitcoin as they don't want to become "rich" so instead they're choosing times like this when people don't care about Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrencies.

Anyway I hope italians will understand the value of Bitcoin and its potential in the next coming years.

Any major bank is required to have a strategy for dealing with the crisis. Moreover, these strategies are worked out in advance on simulated situations. Of course, there are emergency situations, such as coronavirus, but large banks know what to do even in such difficult times.

Due to the lockdown, which we don't know the end, probably the Italian bank admitted the need for a system that would not risk the health of its customers and users. We know crypto trading can be done even in homes so at times of turmoil like this, we really need to adopt crypto. This is good news for the Bitcoin community and I hope for Italians also (Bitcoin user or not). We just hope that at the end of the day, when the pandemic is over, the Italian government would fully adopt crypto.

Im thinking this is a good implementation through the COVID 19 virus somehow the fiat money could be a way to spread the virus to a lot of people especially in Italy where the COVID 19 virus is already infecting a lot of people in their country. For me Bitcoin trading could be useful at these times in their country can be a good way to use in order to minimize the virus and also have a digital transaction that you could do but since if it is already a total lockdown it would be useless at this time unless their already sell of their investment at this time. It would be a great help if they already implemented and support this bitcoin or cryptocurrency before the virus is already out.

No, this in infact the right timing for those who have not learned about cryptocurrency yet, due to community full lockdown in Italy, people will have enough time to read , watch video, and learn about cryptocurrency.
I guess the bank did a great job to open up about the benefits and opportunity of Bitcoin to the people while they aren't busy doing their day jobs and daily routines. Also, atleast they will going to have options to make an income amidst the health crisis and lockdown.

That is so true though.

I think would just use fiat right now to live through the lockdowns and the community quarantines that are happening in our country. They would not be thinking about the investment they have, they would be thinking how would they be able to survive for example in Italy where a lot of cases are happening. They would not focus on using Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, they will think how and where would they buy essentials for them to be safe.

We have massive information on that with the help of the internet.

Although I think bitcoin was made for situation like this, we can't just tell people or even us to use digital currency because of the threat we are facing right now. The fact that we don't have much bitcoin supporting businesses and machines already disorients the idea of using bitcoin in times of crisis. However they could use bitcoin to store their monetary values but the thing is people does really need money to buy their essentials right now.

Italian have lock down their country because corona virus and absolutely their economic situation down and solution for bitcoin trading is best way, after many business killed by corona virus I think bitcoin keep stronger and best way without have any problem with corona virus, but many people still afraid for investing in bitcoin.

It is good news for us who involve in the crypto world, but I don't think that is good news for people who lived in Italy because they still fight with the virus, and they are still trying to get the medicine. But if they can get the medicine, and they can get cured, I think that decision will help people in Italy to use crypto for making the transaction besides fiat. They will have another payment method that they can use for buying something, and that will be good if some local merchant can accept crypto for the payment.

That’s really great. This is not the first time I’m seeing this news today, I have also seen someone that said this same thing when I was going through the Economics section in the forum. This is a sign that countries are now starting to accept Bitcoin, though not as their main currency, but at least by integrating it in their banking app means that they are encouraging people to start making use of it.

Don’t be surprised as time goes on even the bigger banks will start doing the same thing and will allow people to buy and store bitcoin using their Bank app. That will be really cool mehn.

But the problem here is the acceptability.

People are definitely buying a lot of essentials are groceries and even if people are prone to get the virus using fiat they will keep on using it since there are not that many groceries accepting Bitcoin. They would not even think of using it since they are more focussed on buying the essential and keeping theirselves alive inside their houses for the rest of the quarantine.

They were able to hide just about any indication of failure, as cashless exchanges should now be strengthened, though it often encouraged Bitcoin as a mechanism to do just that. I understand that two people will say horrible facts but say wrong, in light of the fact that the people who are currently introduced to Bitcoin, you can currently understand its advantages as opposed to Fiat. That's why :'(

I don’t really get how a bank is letting you trade cryptocurrency without any KYC, are you really sure of what you read? If there is no KYC involved, on whose account are you trading them? You’re still going to be needing your bank account to make payments and things like that, when you’re trading with the bank.

But anyway, it’s good that they took such a bold step. Before now I have been expecting that such will start Germany, because there was news that a new law passed in Germany will allow banks to be able to trade cryptocurrency with their customers. Anyway, let’s wait and see what banks in other countries are going to do. I will be happy if they all start to do the same thing.

I am absolutely against banks being connected to bitcoins in any way.

Great news!
Hope to see more adoption in the near future.

it's all a matter of time mate, the adoption of cryptocurrencies and its use will not happen fortnight but will take time but eventually they would settle down to approve it someday because the technology behind it is remarkable and speaks for itself. Absolute, security, decentralization and financial privacy is something I believe the world needs at the moment.

This is good news. I know that at this time most people are mainly worried about feeding and other essentials that would help them, especially in countries where there is serious lockdown. But after the lockdown, I believe that this will help to make lots of people adopt cryptocurrency.

For now they might not be interested because of the situation at hand. I have seen a lot of people that have lost their jobs due to this Coronavirus situation. A bank in my country even said that they will be retrenching 75% of their workers. So imagine someone such a thing happening, most people won't be interested in anything called investment right now, except people that have enough money.

Bitcoin mining all over the world is a huge people role not only in Italy but also in trading. Bitcoin plays a very important role. It has played a very important role in the training of any human bitcoin. The contribution of the currency world is increasing day by day more so I think training is all over the world.

Don't mess with banks, this is literally the first commandment of a crypto trader.