Bank Leumi, Israel’s largest bank, is making another push into crypto trading, this time with Galaxy Digital as its partner. The two companies said Thursday that Leumi will offer digital-asset trading through Pepper, the bank’s digital investment arm.
According to the official press release, 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. Trading will take place in a dedicated secured section of the app. The service is expected to become available in early 2027.
A second attempt after the 2022 plan failed to launch
This is not Leumi’s first attempt to bring crypto trading to customers. In March 2022, Pepper Invest said it would enable BTC and ETH trading through Paxos, a crypto infrastructure and tokenization company, and presented the move as a first for an Israeli bank.
That earlier service never launched because the required regulatory approval did not come through. The 2022 arrangement stalled at the Bank of Israel, which is also the approval gate for the new plan.
What changed in Israel’s regulatory setup
Up until the summer of 2026, Israeli banks automatically delayed crypto-linked deposits and could refuse fiat funds coming from crypto sources. Licensed firms were also limited to trading a short list of coins, while custody and capital rules lacked clarity.
That changed in mid-2026. The Bank of Israel removed the deposit delays and barred blanket refusals of funds from licensed providers. The Capital Market Authority then set wallet-security and capital standards: 2 million New Israeli Shekels for non-custody firms and 2.5 million New Israeli Shekels for firms offering custody, along with mandatory segregation of customer assets.
On August 1, a circular opened trading to the top 50 coins by market capitalization, provided each had a market value above $500 million. Together, those changes created a regulated and lower-friction path for banks such as Leumi to offer crypto access directly to retail customers.
Galaxy will handle execution and custody
Galaxy also comes with regulated status of its own. The company holds a New York Department of Financial Services BitLicense and a money-transmission license obtained in May 2026, giving Leumi a regulated counterparty for the planned service.
Galaxy is supplying both key layers of the setup. Trade execution will run through GalaxyOne Institutional, its platform for banks and asset managers. Custody will run on GK8, an air-gapped wallet provider whose systems do not touch the internet. Galaxy acquired GK8 after the collapse of Celsius.
Customers will trade from the same app they already use to manage stocks and bonds. Leumi serves roughly 2.5 million retail customers.
Still pending central bank approval
Lior Lamesh, CEO of Galaxy Israel, said: 「The future of finance will run on open, programmable rails, and we believe the banks that move first will define the era that follows. Leumi is the first bank in Israel to bring digital assets to its customers, and it chose Galaxy, to make it possible.」
Leumi and Galaxy expect the service to go live inside Leumi Trade in early 2027, subject to approval from the Bank of Israel. That is the same hurdle that stopped the 2022 plan.