The Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank), one of the largest universal banks in the Philippines, debuts cryptocurrency trading via a partnership with a Swiss crypto firm. UnionBank has launched a pilot program for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) custody and trading services for select retail customers, the firm said in a joint announcement on Nov. 2. The new investment and trading feature launches in collaboration with the Swiss crypto technology firm Metaco, with UnionBank going live on Metaco’s digital asset platform Harmonize. UnionBank initially partnered with Metaco for the development of crypto trading services in January 2022. Licensed and …

Regulatory activity has surfaced on many levels in crypto this year. Government agencies have provided clarity and executed enforcement and discussed new actions. Such regulation has widely impacted the industry, in part affecting big players entering the sector, according to METACO’s vice-president of sales and business development, Seamus Donoghue. “Regulatory barriers for institutions have been falling globally in 2020, and we expect that to continue into 2021,” Donoghue told Cointelegraph. In 2020, the crypto space has welcomed a developing trend of behemoth mainstream financial giants buying Bitcoin (BTC). MicroStrategy, MassMutual and Square serve as just three examples. Some regulatory actions, …