One of the largest retail stores globally, El Corte Inglés, has teamed up with Deloitte to establish a cryptocurrency exchange targeted at its 11 million customers. The Spanish retail chain entered into a partnership with the accounting firm to establish a platform to its customers can trade virtual currencies with their credit cards. 

According to Spanish media, the new exchange will be called Bitcor, and it will allow El Corte Inglès customers to purchase and trade virtual currencies, such as BTC and ether. Bitcor was registered in 2021 under the Intellectual Property Office to offer crypto services and trading. 

El Corte Finally Fulfills its Objectives 

The move comes after almost a year of debate on the appropriateness of entering into crypto. Some of the executives thought going into crypto to be unsuitable, following the warnings of European Authorities on the riskiness of transacting in virtual assets and their speculative nature.

El Corte’s partner Deloitte has already contacted Minos Global for support in developing the exchange. Minos Global is a Spanish firm created by ex-members of staff of Deloitte with blockchain expertise. 

The decision to go into cryptocurrency tallies with Six Group’s plans to collaborate with LMAX to establish a virtual currency futures trading. The collaboration will enable interested people to invest in BTC and ETH futures in USD. Six Group owns a stock market in Spain, while LMAX specializes in offering digital currency trading services to institutional investors. 

Customers Will be Exposed to More Than Trading

According to the agreement, El Corte customers will be exposed to more than trading. Registered customers will be opportune to make investments in mutual and pension funds of Mutua Madrilena. Bitcoir is amongst the many investment options made available to investors who love to take risks or spread their portfolios.

Last December, the retail store was approved by the National Securities Market Commission to regulate digital currencies in 2022. However, this approval didn’t seem to sit well with Spanish Central Bank Governor Pablo Hernández, who’s always been skeptical about cryptocurrencies.

The Governor has sought tougher measures to control virtual currency, not excluding thorough regulation and effective oversight. In the Governor’s opinion, implementing tighter measures will help the nation manage the risks involving the nascent assets. 

His position consolidates with other central bank governors in the EU regarding crypto use. Recently, the EU weren’t in favor of banning crypto mining, offering more security to PoW coins like BTC and ether. If passed, it would have been one step closer to ending crypto use in the region.

The EU is not yet done, however. It plans to act on two bills – one directed at crypto wallets and the other on AML. The former will be up for a vote this Thursday.