Bancolombia’s Pablo Arboleda Niño urges traditional banks to establish transparent on-ramps for Bitcoin and digital assets.
Merge Madrid 2025 highlights banking integration of crypto under Europe’s MiCA framework and Latin American regulatory advancements.
A senior executive from Bancolombia has called for banks to establish clear pathways for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency access. Pablo Arboleda Niño, the head of Bancolombia’s digital asset platform Wenia, made the statement at the Merge Madrid 2025 event. He stressed that the banking sector should guide and educate users of digital currencies.
Arboleda Niño spoke during a panel titled “Banking strategy for crypto in Spain and Latin America” on October 8, 2025. He described the initial complexity for users buying and withdrawing digital assets. The executive said his organization’s first goal was to simplify the process of moving money between bank accounts and crypto holdings. He identified operational simplicity and financial education as foundations for building user trust.
The panel addressed banking strategies in both Europe and Latin America. It also highlighted regulatory progress following the full implementation of Europe’s MiCA law. In Spain, banks are undergoing a staggered adoption process, with each institution pursuing distinct models and timelines.
Participants agreed that bank-led education for the general public is a central requirement. The discussion also revealed a diversity of banking strategies currently in operation. These strategies include a focus on stablecoins. For instance, CaixaBank and eight other European banks plan to launch their own stablecoin.
Javier García de la Torre, Binance’s country leader for Iberia, underlined the market traction for these assets. He noted that the stablecoin market holds a combined valuation of approximately 300 billion dollars. These assets manage around 45 billion dollars in volume, providing liquidity to digital finance. Rivals to Tether (USDT) are gaining ground in Europe under MiCA rules, a group that now includes traditional banks.