Can I Buy Bitcoin with UniCredit?

Yes, but not through the bank. UniCredit runs no retail crypto desk, holds no Bitcoin for personal customers, and its group policy has historically prohibited relationships with virtual currency issuers and exchange platforms. That stance blew up on Italian Twitter in January 2022 when customer care warned a client that exchange payments could mean account closure.

The thaw has only reached professional clients. In July 2025 UniCredit issued Italy's first structured certificate tied to BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF, a five-year, capital-protected dollar note with a $25,000 minimum. It signals where the group is heading rather than what a My Genius account can do.

For everyone else, the working method is a SEPA transfer to a regulated exchange operating in Italy. We have sent bonifici from a UniCredit conto to MiCA-licensed venues this year without a block, though our first transfer above €10,000 drew a call from the filiale. One sentence settled it.

How to Buy Crypto with UniCredit

A SEPA transfer from the UniCredit app to Bybit is the cheapest path to crypto you can actually withdraw. Bybit EU is MiCA-authorised out of Vienna, the bonifico istantaneo settles in seconds, and spot trading costs 0.10%.

Steps to buy crypto with UniCredit:

1. Create an account: Sign up on Bybit and complete KYC with your carta d'identità elettronica or passport plus codice fiscale. Italian residents are served by Bybit EU GmbH under its Austrian FMA licence.
2. Get the SEPA details: In Bybit, open Buy Crypto > Deposit > EUR and select SEPA. Copy the IBAN, beneficiary name, and reference code exactly. A mangled reference is the usual cause of manual review.
3. Check your limits in the app: UniCredit lets you set personalised per-operation and daily caps on instant transfers inside the Mobile Banking app. The retail ceiling is €15,000 per bonifico istantaneo, and many accounts ship with a lower default.
4. Send the transfer: Add Bybit's IBAN as a new beneficiary and confirm with Mobile Token. UniCredit's verifica del beneficiario cross-checks the name against the IBAN before release, so enter Bybit EU GmbH exactly. Shortened versions trigger a mismatch warning.
5. Buy crypto: Once the euros land, open BTC/EUR or your preferred pair and place the order. Above a few hundred euros we place limit orders, since Instant Buy quotes a spread wider than the 0.10% spot fee.

Fees and Transfer Limits for UniCredit Customers

Total cost splits into the UniCredit leg and the exchange leg. On the bank side, limits matter more than fees, since EU law equalised instant transfer pricing in 2025.

UniCredit costs and limits

• Standard SEPA (bonifico ordinario): Settles in one business day, with an online ceiling around €50,000 for EU-area transfers. Pricing depends on your conto, from free on some My Genius configurations to roughly €1 online on others.
• Bonifico istantaneo: Since 9 January 2025 the EU Instant Payments Regulation has barred surcharges on instant transfers, so it costs the same as a standard bonifico. The retail cap is €15,000 per operation, with inbound credits accepted up to €100,000.
• Verifica del beneficiario: Mandatory name-to-IBAN matching applies to every SEPA payment sent from the app or Banca via Internet. Get the beneficiary string right first time and the transfer clears in seconds.
• Card deposits: UniCredit Visa and Mastercard work on most exchange gateways, but 1.5% to 3.5% surcharges make them sensible only for a small first test.
• AML checks: UniCredit is supervised by the Banca d'Italia and the ECB, applying Decreto Legislativo 231/2007 on money laundering. Inbound credits from exchanges above €10,000 can prompt a source-of-funds request. Exchange statements and your Quadro RW filings close these quickly.

Bybit fees

• SEPA deposit: Free.
• Spot trading: 0.10% maker and taker at the standard tier.
• Instant Buy: A wider spread built into the quoted price. Acceptable for a test purchase, expensive at size.
• Crypto withdrawal: Network fee only. USDT on Tron (TRC-20) usually costs under a dollar.
• EUR withdrawal via SEPA back to UniCredit: Free or a small flat fee.

One Italian tax detail matters before choosing between coins and certificates. Gains on directly held crypto are taxed at 33% from 1 January 2026, while crypto ETNs held through a broker stay at 26% as ordinary financial instruments. Euro-pegged e-money tokens under MiCA also keep the 26% rate, useful if you park funds in stablecoins between trades.

Best Exchanges for UniCredit Customers

Italian users can choose between EU-passported platforms and a homegrown option still completing its MiCA authorisation.

UniCredit Cryptocurrency Policy

UniCredit offers retail customers no crypto trading, custody, or wallet service in Italy. In January 2022 its official account stated that group policy barred relationships with counterparties issuing virtual currencies or acting as exchange platforms, making it the public face of Italian banking's resistance to crypto. The 2025 IBIT certificate for professional clients softened that line without reversing it.

The Italian rulebook has moved faster. MiCA has applied since 30 December 2024 under Decreto Legislativo 129/2024, with Consob supervising conduct and the Banca d'Italia prudential matters. Consob warned in December 2025 that OAM-registered VASPs had until 30 December 2025 to file CASP applications, after which they can operate pending a decision and no later than 30 June 2026. No Italian firm held a CASP licence at that deadline, so platforms serving Italy today are mostly passported from Austria, Ireland, France, and Malta.

Tax tightened in parallel. The 2025 budget law removed the €2,000 exemption and lifted the substitute tax on crypto gains from 26% to 33% from 1 January 2026, with euro-denominated e-money tokens kept at 26%. DAC8 now obliges MiCA-licensed exchanges to report client balances and transactions to the Agenzia delle Entrate, so Quadro RW declarations are cross-checked against data the tax office already holds. For dollar stablecoins, see our guide to buying USDT in Italy.

About UniCredit

UniCredit S.p.A. is a pan-European commercial bank headquartered in Piazza Gae Aulenti, Milan, serving around 15 million clients across 13 core markets including Italy, Germany, Austria, and Central and Eastern Europe. It is Italy's second-largest banking group by assets.

Retail customers in Italy bank through the UniCredit Mobile Banking app and Banca via Internet, with Mobile Token handling payment authorisation. The product line covers the My Genius current account family, the buddy digital banking offer, Visa and Mastercard cards, and an in-app securities deposit for shares and funds.

The bank is supervised directly by the European Central Bank under the Single Supervisory Mechanism and by the Banca d'Italia.

Final Thoughts

Buying Bitcoin with UniCredit means working around the bank rather than with it. There is no retail product, the official posture remains cool, and the only in-house exposure offered so far is a capital-protected certificate for professional clients with a $25,000 floor.

The workaround holds up well in 2026. Set your bonifico istantaneo limit in the app, enter Bybit EU GmbH exactly so the beneficiary check passes, and the transfer lands in seconds at no extra cost. On the other side, 0.10% spot fees and free SEPA deposits keep the all-in cost far below any card gateway, and you end up with coins you can withdraw to your own wallet, which no UniCredit product allows.