Bank Leumi to Launch Crypto Trading with Galaxy Digital in Early 2027

A Banking First in Israel

Bank Leumi, Israel's largest bank, announced on August 14, 2026, that it will let customers buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrency through the Leumi Trade investment app. The bank is partnering with Galaxy Digital Inc., a New York-based digital asset company listed on Nasdaq under the ticker GLXY. The service is planned to go live in early 2027.

The three cryptocurrencies available at launch will be Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Solana (SOL). Leumi Trade is Bank Leumi's capital markets application. PEPPER, the bank's separate digital-only banking arm, is also covered under the partnership, so customers across both platforms will have access to the same crypto trading service once it launches.

The joint press release, distributed through PR Newswire, describes Bank Leumi as the first bank in Israel to offer direct crypto trading to retail customers. That claim originates with the announcement parties, not an independent Israeli regulator or government body. No source has disputed it, but readers should understand where the claim comes from.

Galaxy Digital's Role Behind the Scenes

Galaxy Digital is supplying two distinct technology products to make the service work. The first handles trading — receiving a customer's order, finding the best available price, and settling the transaction. The second handles custody — storing the actual digital assets on behalf of bank clients after a purchase is complete. Both products operate behind the scenes; customers interact only with Leumi Trade or PEPPER.

Custody is a term worth understanding. In traditional banking, a brokerage holds shares on your behalf — you do not receive a physical share certificate. Crypto custody works similarly. Galaxy's Custody Infrastructure platform, which the company acquired through a firm formerly called GK8, stores the cryptographic keys that prove ownership of the assets. The bank controls those keys, not individual customers.

Understanding how bitcoin wallets work clarifies what this service is not. A personal bitcoin wallet gives the owner direct key control — no bank needed. Bank Leumi's service is the opposite: customers gain bank-supervised access and standard consumer protections in exchange for the direct, self-sovereign control that bitcoin's original design makes possible. Neither model is wrong; the right choice depends entirely on what a customer needs.

• GalaxyOne Institutional routes and settles customer buy and sell orders
• Galaxy Custody Infrastructure (formerly GK8) stores the cryptographic keys that prove asset ownership
• Service covers both Leumi Trade (capital markets app) and PEPPER (digital banking arm)
• At launch: Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Solana (SOL) only

The 2022 Partnership That Never Launched

This is not Bank Leumi's first attempt to offer crypto trading. In 2022, the bank announced a similar initiative with Paxos, a New York-based blockchain infrastructure company. Paxos was positioned as the technology layer for the service. That deal promised comparable retail crypto access. It never launched, and no public explanation from either party appeared in the sources reviewed for this report.

The 2022 Paxos episode is material context for this 2026 announcement. Both deals involve Israel's largest bank, a U.S. technology partner, a set of named cryptocurrencies, and a forward-looking launch timeline. Both also depend on regulatory conditions in Israel that were not yet finalized at the time of announcement. That similarity is the main reason the early-2027 target date should be treated as a goal, not a guarantee.

What is genuinely different in 2026 is the broader environment. Both parties describe improved regulatory conditions in Israel as a driver of the current partnership. Galaxy Digital also brings institutional-grade custody infrastructure — the GK8-origin platform — which was not part of the 2022 Paxos arrangement. Whether those differences are enough to complete what the 2022 deal could not is a question only the 2027 launch date can answer.

Israel's $22 Billion Crypto Market

Israel is not a small crypto market. According to Chainalysis, Israeli residents moved approximately $22 billion worth of cryptocurrency in the twelve months ending June 2025. Chainalysis is a blockchain data company that tracks on-chain activity; its figures are third-party estimates, not official Israeli government statistics, but the scale they describe helps explain why a major bank sees a business opportunity in offering this service.

For context on bitcoin regulation in Israel, the country has been working to bring digital asset activity inside the formal banking system. The joint press release from Bank Leumi and Galaxy cites improved regulatory conditions as a reason the partnership is now possible. However, the press release does not name a specific regulatory approval, license number, or government agency that has already cleared the service for launch.

If the service launches as planned, Israeli bank customers would be able to track live crypto market data and then trade directly inside a supervised banking application — without opening a separate account at an exchange. That is a meaningful shift in access, though the same assets are already reachable through unlicensed or overseas platforms for anyone willing to seek them out.

The 2027 Milestone Bank Leumi Must Clear

Before any Bank Leumi customer can buy a single satoshi — the smallest unit of bitcoin, equal to one hundred-millionth of one BTC — through the Leumi Trade app, several conditions must be met. Regulatory approval in Israel must be finalized. Galaxy's trading and custody infrastructure must be integrated with Leumi's existing systems. Internal compliance and testing must pass review.

The two companies have not committed to a specific month in early 2027. "Early 2027" is the only timeline disclosed in the joint press release on PR Newswire. That language gives the partnership roughly six months of runway from the time of announcement. The absence of a firm date is not unusual for financial technology rollouts, which regularly shift when regulatory processes take longer than expected.

Bank Leumi's goal is to give customers a bank-supervised way to trade assets many already follow — people who track the bitcoin price daily but have no regulated Israeli bank route for trading it. Whether that service arrives in early 2027 depends on conditions neither party fully controls. The 2022 Paxos episode is a reminder that the gap between announcement and launch can swallow even well-publicized banking partnerships.