Bow Valley Credit Union (BVCU) has launched Canada’s first Bitcoin Gateway, enabling its members to securely purchase Bitcoin directly through their accounts. This initiative is a collaboration with digital asset custodian Balance and Bitcoin exchange Bull Bitcoin.
The Bitcoin Gateway integrates with a user’s existing BVCU account, facilitating seamless transfers between fiat currency and Bitcoin with minimal technical expertise required. The Bitcoin acquired through the gateway is presented as real, owned by the user, securely stored, insured, and not leveraged.
Custody services for the Bitcoin Gateway are provided by Balance, a Canadian digital asset custodian that has operated since 2017. Bull Bitcoin supplies up-to-the-minute, competitive pricing for transactions, aiming to simplify the buying and selling process for users.
Brett Oland, CEO of BVCU, stated regarding the new offering, “The Bitcoin Gateway offers a safe, secure, and easy way to engage with one of the most important emerging asset classes of our time.” George Bordianu, co-founder and CEO of Balance, added, “We’re extremely proud to empower the first credit union in Canada to give its members access to Bitcoin, the highest returning asset of the last 15 years. The infrastructure required took us years to build and we hope other institutions will follow BVCU’s lead outside Alberta.”
Bow Valley Credit Union, established in 1953, is a full-service financial institution serving communities in Alberta. Balance provides digital asset rails that connect clients to various providers for services such as staking, lending, and asset liquidation.