First National Bank (FNB) has launched cryptocurrency trading for South African customers through its existing investment platform, allowing users to buy five digital assets from R10 through a partnership with local exchange VALR. According to reports from crypto.news and TradingView, the service runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, instead of following normal stock-market hours. FNB announced the service on October 6, 2026, making it accessible to nearly 9 million retail clients through the bank's share-trading platform. FNB customers can now trade Bitcoin, Ether, XRP, Solana and Tether's USDT stablecoin through their share-trading products, with the minimum investment of R10 giving existing investment customers access to crypto without opening a separate account directly with an exchange.
The crypto investing feature has been added to four existing FNB products: Share Saver, Share Builder, Share Investor and Share Zero. As reported by crypto.news, customers use money held in their FNB accounts to fund purchases, with the service being ringfenced within the FNB ecosystem as part of the bank's approach to platform security and compliance. However, crypto bought through FNB cannot be transferred into or out of the platform, meaning customers cannot withdraw Bitcoin, Ether or other supported assets to a self-custody wallet, nor can they deposit crypto they already hold elsewhere. This restriction makes the product focused on buying, holding and selling crypto as an investment through the bank's infrastructure, with FNB executives citing compliance with South African exchange-control regulations and security concerns as key motivations for the restriction.
South African exchange VALR provides the crypto capabilities behind FNB's new product, holding a South African crypto asset service provider license under Financial Services Provider number 53308. According to the South African Reserve Bank's June Financial Stability Review, by March 2026, the number of licensed crypto asset service providers had reached 310. VALR itself was one of South Africa's earlier large exchanges to secure authorization, being named among the first exchanges licensed as authorities brought the industry under formal financial-services oversight. The central bank reported that USDT remained the preferred stablecoin for domestic transactions, with on-chain USDT activity involving VALR, Luno and AltCoinTrader reaching nearly R27 billion during the year through April 30. For VALR, the partnership represents a significant distribution win, offering access to FNB's substantial client base without the usual heavy customer acquisition costs.
FNB is not the first large South African bank to connect customers with digital assets, with Discovery Bank introducing crypto access through a partnership with Luno in November 2025. As reported by crypto.news, more than 6 million South Africans hold crypto assets as of late 2025, while holdings under custody at major domestic platforms including Luno, VALR and Ovex had exceeded R25 billion by late 2025. FNB CEO Sizwe Nxedlana stated the bank introduced the service after receiving requests for more investment choices, with plans to provide more investment choices and educational material in text, video and audio formats. The bank also intends to expand the list of supported assets and provide educational resources to help clients understand the complexities and risks of digital currencies. FNB Wealth and Asset Management CEO Bheki Mkhize noted the bank has observed significant interest in cryptocurrencies among its customers, with the bank highlighting increasing regulatory clarity and greater institutional involvement as factors supporting the development of the crypto market.
