Israel's Largest Bank Launches Bitcoin, Ethereum Trading: What You Need To Know

Bank Leumi — Israel's oldest bank and the largest in the country — just became the first bank in the country to enable its customers to trade cryptocurrencies, for now only Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH).

What Happened: Bank Leumi launched its Pepper Invest cryptocurrency trading platform through a partnership with United States crypto firm Paxos, according to a Thursday Reuters report.

The bank said that "Pepper will collect tax according to the guidelines of the Israeli Tax Authority so that customers will not need to manage tax complexities."

See Also: IS BITCOIN A GOOD INVESTMENT? 

Bank Leumi has not yet announced a launch date for Pepper Invest and said that regulatory approval is still pending. Transactions on the platform will have to be worth at least 50 shekels — equivalent to about $15.50.

BTC Price Action: As of press time, Bitcoin is trading at just under $44,300 after seeing its price increase by over 2.85% over the last 24 hours.