Can I Buy Bitcoin with Banque Populaire?
Yes, through either Banque Populaire’s in-app service or an external exchange. Customers of participating regional banks can open a Hexarq crypto account within the Banque Populaire app. Any customer can also fund an EU-authorised exchange by SEPA transfer under the MiCA licensing regime.
Last December, Hexarq, BPCE’s crypto subsidiary licensed by the AMF under number A2026-010, began offering Bitcoin, Ether, Solana and USDC through the Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Epargne apps. No other major French bank lets customers hold BTC alongside a Livret A. By mid July, nine regional Banques Populaires were live, while Alsace Lorraine Champagne was still waiting.
The in-app service costs 2.99 € per month plus 1.5% per trade, supports only four assets and was still introducing external withdrawals when we checked. Bybit offers 2,000+ assets at a much lower trading fee, while Banque Populaire transfers to the AMF-whitelisted exchange are free. Our SEPA Instant test from Banque Populaire Rives de Paris arrived in under a minute after Sécur’Pass validation.
How to Buy Crypto with Banque Populaire
The cheapest way to buy withdrawable crypto with Banque Populaire is to send a SEPA transfer to Bybit. Bybit EU GmbH is supervised by Austria’s FMA and passported into France. SEPA Instant deposits are usually credited within seconds.
Steps to buy crypto with Banque Populaire:
- Create an account: Register on Bybit and complete identity checks (KYC) using your carte d’identité or passport. French residents join through Bybit EU GmbH, its MiCA-licensed entity, rather than the global platform.
- Copy the SEPA details: Open Buy Crypto > Deposit > EUR in Bybit, then select SEPA. Save the IBAN, beneficiary name and payment reference. Deposits most often enter manual review when the reference is missing or has been changed.
- Check your plafonds: In the Banque Populaire app, go to Comptes, then Gérer, followed by Plafonds de virements. Your regional bank determines the limits per operation, day and month. The pencil icon lets you raise them within the range permitted by your caisse. For anything higher, contact your conseiller.
- Send the transfer: Add Bybit as a new bénéficiaire and choose the instant option. Since last October, the Verification of Payee check mandated by Regulation (EU) 2024/886 has compared the entered beneficiary name with the receiving account. Use Bybit EU GmbH in full, then approve the virement through Sécur’Pass.
- Place your order: When the euros arrive, open BTC/EUR or another preferred pair and submit a limit order. For purchases above a few hundred euros, we use the order book. Instant Buy includes a spread in its quoted price that can cost several times more than the 0.10% trading fee.
When the instant option is unavailable, the account has usually reached a plafond or does not yet have Sécur’Pass activated. Both can be checked from the same Plafonds screen.
Fees, Tax and Transfer Limits for Banque Populaire Customers
Once your transfer ceilings are configured, there is no cost on the banking side. The main fee comparison is therefore between Hexarq and an external exchange.
Banque Populaire costs and limits
- Standard SEPA transfer: Free through the app or Cyberplus web banking, with settlement in one to two business days.
- SEPA Instant (virement instantané): Free for individuals since Regulation (EU) 2024/886 prohibited surcharges on instant transfers in January 2025. It requires Sécur’Pass or SMS codes and only works between current accounts.
- Plafonds: Each regional Banque Populaire sets limits per operation, day and month. Customers can adjust them in the app under Plafonds de virements. Published ceilings vary by caisse, meaning a transfer accepted by Banque Populaire Rives de Paris may be rejected at Banque Populaire Occitane.
- Verification of Payee: SEPA payments now include a name check against the destination IBAN. Bybit’s settlement account belongs to Bybit EU GmbH, and abbreviating the name can produce a mismatch warning.
- Wero: Available only for transfers to enrolled individuals and subject to peer-to-peer limits, so it cannot be used to fund an exchange.
- Card deposits: Banque Populaire Visa cards are accepted by exchange payment gateways, with surcharges ranging from 1.5% to 3.5%. We reserve cards for an initial small test.
- AML review: Regional banks are supervised by the ACPR under France’s anti-money-laundering rules (LCB-FT). Incoming exchange proceeds above roughly 10,000 € may lead to a source-of-funds request. Exchange statements and previous filings usually resolve it quickly.
Hexarq fees inside the app
- Subscription: 2.99 € monthly, including custody for portfolios worth up to 50,000 €. For any value above that threshold, 0.005% per month applies to the excess, although this is waived during the first year.
- Trading: Each buy, sell or swap costs 1.5%, subject to a 1 € minimum. Euro trades into MiCA-compliant stablecoins such as USDC are charged at 0.3%. Hexarq says it does not add a hidden spread.
- Assets: Bitcoin, Ether, Solana and USDC were available at launch. XRP, AVAX, DOT, POL, ADA, XTZ and EURC have been named as future additions.
- Withdrawals: Deposits from a customer’s own external wallet are available. Withdrawals to outside wallets were still pending at our last check, so Hexarq should currently be treated as custody-only.
Bybit fees
- SEPA deposit: Free for both standard and instant transfers.
- Spot trading: The entry-tier maker and taker fee is 0.10%, fifteen times below Hexarq’s headline rate.
- Instant Buy: The quoted price includes a wider spread. It is reasonable for a test purchase but expensive at scale.
- Crypto withdrawal: Only the network fee applies, with USDC transfers on a low-cost chain costing cents.
- EUR back to Banque Populaire: Free or subject to a small flat SEPA fee.
French tax on crypto
- Flat tax: Since 1 January, gains from crypto sold for euros have been taxed at 31.4%. The rate comprises 12.8% income tax plus an 18.6% social contribution, which rose from 17.2%. Annual disposals totalling less than 305 € remain exempt.
- Crypto-to-crypto: Exchanging one crypto asset for another is not taxable in France. Tax becomes due when the assets are converted into euros.
- DAC8 reporting: Since January, DAC8 has required licensed platforms to report customers’ balances and transactions. The French tax authority (DGFiP) therefore receives exchange data automatically. Foreign accounts must be reported on form 3916-bis, with gains declared on form 2086.
Best Exchanges for Banque Populaire Customers
The transitional period for France’s older PSAN registrations ended on 1 July 2026. Only platforms with an AMF agrément or a passported EU licence may now legally serve French residents, and Binance exited the market after failing to obtain one. All the exchanges listed below meet that requirement and accept SEPA transfers from Banque Populaire. Our best crypto exchanges in France guide covers the broader licensed market.
Banque Populaire Cryptocurrency Policy
Within a year, Banque Populaire moved from having no direct crypto offering to distributing digital assets through its own regulated platform. BPCE developed the service and integrated it with the banking apps already used by its networks.
Founded in 2024 and wholly owned by BPCE, Hexarq is agréé by the AMF as a crypto-asset service provider. Its authorisation covers custody, purchases, sales, exchanges and transfers. The pilot launched last December across four regional banks serving around 2 million customers. BPCE intends to extend it to its full retail customer base of 12 million as the rollout progresses. Customers subscribe through Epargner in the app’s Souscrire tab, and the minimum investment is 10 €.
The Hexarq launch did not alter Banque Populaire’s treatment of external platforms. The bank processes SEPA transfers to exchanges on the AMF white list. Legal penalties apply to the platform rather than the customer, as operating without authorisation is punishable under the Code monétaire et financier by two years in prison and a 30,000 € fine. Check the destination against the AMF register before sending funds, or consult our list of MiCA-licensed crypto exchanges.
Crédit Agricole houses its MiCA licence within an institutional custody business. Societe Generale issues stablecoins through SG-FORGE but does not sell crypto directly to retail banking customers. Of the three groups, BPCE is the only one to place a buy button inside its consumer app.
About Banque Populaire
Banque Populaire operates as a cooperative network of 14 banks serving 9.7 million customers. Among them, 5.2 million are sociétaires who own shares in their regional bank. Twelve banks cover specific regions, while CASDEN serves public sector employees and Crédit Coopératif focuses on the social economy.
The Banques Populaires and Caisses d’Epargne jointly own Groupe BPCE, France’s second-largest banking group, which has around 36 million customers worldwide. Pricing and transfer plafonds are determined independently by each regional bank. As a result, Banque Populaire has no network-wide transfer limit; the applicable ceiling appears in the customer’s own brochure tarifaire.
Banking services are available through the Banque Populaire app and Cyberplus web portal. Sécur’Pass provides strong authentication for payments and subscriptions. Prudential oversight is shared between the European Central Bank under the Single Supervisory Mechanism and the ACPR in France, while Hexarq’s crypto activities fall under AMF supervision.
.webp)
Bottom Line
Banque Populaire customers now have access to something unavailable from other large French banking networks: a regulated crypto account connected directly to their current account. Hexarq is suitable for an initial 50 € Bitcoin purchase, particularly for customers who want bank-managed custody and an interface contained within the app they already use.
An external exchange remains more economical for larger investments. Buying 1,000 € through Hexarq costs 15 € in transaction fees, compared with roughly 1 € on Bybit. Bybit also offers around 2,000 additional assets, staking and withdrawals to a self-controlled wallet. Set the appropriate plafond in the app, make sure the beneficiary name matches Bybit EU GmbH, and maintain accurate form 2086 records because the DGFiP receives the data either way.
