Israel’s Bank Leumi has teamed up with Galaxy Digital to bring cryptocurrency trading to its mobile banking ecosystem, with an anticipated launch in early 2027. The deal would allow eligible customers to buy, hold, and sell Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana via Leumi’s existing trading interface.
Leumi said customers of the bank and its mobile banking arm, Pepper, will be able to access the service through a dedicated area in the Leumi Trade app. If the timeline holds, Leumi would become the first Israeli bank to offer direct digital asset trading to customers through its platform.
Key takeaways
- Bank Leumi plans to enable cryptocurrency trading for Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana through the Leumi Trade app.
- The service is expected to launch in early 2027 for Leumi and Pepper customers.
- Galaxy Digital will provide trading via GalaxyOne Institutional, while its custody infrastructure platform (formerly GK8) will support Leumi’s digital asset infrastructure.
- Galaxy’s wider performance has included a recent quarter with a reported $85 million net loss, though its digital assets segment still posted adjusted gross profit growth.
Leumi Trade expands into digital assets
The partnership centers on integrating crypto trading directly into Leumi’s customer experience. Under the agreement, Leumi customers will be able to access the purchase, holding, and sale of three major cryptocurrencies—Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Solana (SOL)—through a dedicated section of the Leumi Trade app.
Leumi’s announcement frames the offering as a broad retail and business upgrade: the bank said it serves millions of customers across its retail and commercial operations. For users, the main practical difference is convenience—rather than routing activity through separate crypto platforms, customers would be interacting with crypto functions inside a familiar banking app.
Galaxy Digital’s infrastructure powers the rollout
Leumi said it will use GalaxyOne Institutional for trading and related services. On the custody side, Galaxy will support the bank’s digital asset infrastructure using its custody infrastructure platform, previously known as GK8.
This division of responsibilities matters because crypto trading at banks typically depends on two pillars: reliable execution and secure asset management. By separating trading services from custody infrastructure within Galaxy’s stack, the partnership is set up to cover both areas that often determine whether institutional-grade crypto operations can be scaled for retail clients.
At the same time, the early-2027 schedule underscores that such integrations can be complex—especially when the goal is to connect consumer-facing banking workflows with digital asset custody and market-facing trading systems.
Why the timing and “first” claim are meaningful
Leumi’s statement that it would become the first Israeli bank to offer digital asset trading services to customers positions the move as a potential competitive inflection point. If it delivers, Leumi would be attempting to translate the broader growth of crypto into a regulated banking distribution channel.
However, readers should note that the claim is specific: the “first” status is tied to offering trading services to customers through the bank’s own platform. That doesn’t preclude other routes to crypto access in Israel, but it does highlight the bank-distribution angle—bringing trading capability into mainstream financial UX.
From an investor and market structure perspective, bank-led distribution can change how crypto products are packaged and who bears operational friction. It may also affect liquidity flows by concentrating customer activity into regulated intermediaries rather than purely crypto-native venues, though the exact market impact will depend on how volumes scale after launch.
Galaxy’s financial backdrop and what to watch
The Leumi partnership follows Galaxy Digital’s previously reported struggles in the broader market environment. Earlier coverage noted that Galaxy reported an $85 million net loss in the second quarter, which the company said was largely linked to declining digital asset prices. Even so, Galaxy stated its digital assets business generated $66 million in adjusted gross profit, up 34% from the prior quarter.
Galaxy Digital is led by Mike Novogratz and began trading on the Nasdaq in May 2025 under the ticker GLXY, according to an investor release from the company. Earlier company coverage described its listing plans, and Yahoo Finance shows GLXY trading at $21.38 on Friday morning, up about 2% on the day but down roughly 25% over the past year, based on the data cited.
For Leumi customers, these numbers are not directly determinative of whether the crypto app launches smoothly. But for the broader market, they offer context: Galaxy is taking on a new banking integration while working through the volatility and drawdowns that have characterized parts of the crypto cycle.
What to watch next will likely include whether Galaxy’s institutional services and custody infrastructure are able to support a consumer-facing launch on schedule, and how Leumi structures the customer experience once the service goes live. Since the expected launch is still more than a year away, the next concrete signals for users and industry observers will be product rollouts, regulatory readiness, and any beta phases or phased feature releases inside Leumi Trade.
Until then, the partnership is best understood as a forward-looking bet on mainstream distribution: if Leumi Trade’s crypto access launches as planned, it could mark a meaningful step toward bringing large-bank channels into the day-to-day tooling of crypto buyers and sellers in Israel.
