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BBVA Launches Bitcoin and Ethereum Trading as EU Crypto Regulations Tighten

by News Editor
March 10, 2025

In a landmark move, Spain’s banking giant Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) has gained approval from the Spanish financial regulator to offer Bitcoin and Ethereum trading to its clientele. This step is a result of the EU-wide enforcement of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation.

Key Insights

  • The authorization ends a prolonged journey, allowing BBVA to provide digital assets to its customers.
  • BBVA’s crypto journey follows in the footsteps of other major European banks like Deutsche Bank and Société Générale.
  • This approval highlights the changing dynamics of crypto markets across Europe.

The Bigger Picture

BBVA’s approval comes as MiCA takes full effect across the EU, marking a crucial phase in the bank’s strategy to offer digital asset services. Initially reported by CoinDesk in 2020, BBVA’s expansion into digital currencies was contingent upon regulatory clearance, previously planned for Switzerland due to its established regulatory framework.

Earlier this year, the bank ventured into Turkey’s crypto market through a local subsidiary.

The AI Agent Revolution: Can the Industry Handle the Compute Surge?

by THEFUTURE.TEAM
March 28, 2025

As AI agents evolve from simple chatbots into complex, autonomous assistants, the tech industry faces a new challenge: Is there enough computing power to support them? With AI agents poised to become integral in various industries, computational demands are rising rapidly.

A recent Barclays report forecasts that the AI industry can support between 1.5 billion and 22 billion AI agents, potentially revolutionizing white-collar work. However, the increase in AI’s capabilities comes at a cost. AI agents, unlike chatbots, generate significantly more tokens—up to 25 times more per query—requiring far greater computing power.

Tokens, the fundamental units of generative AI, represent fragmented parts of language to simplify processing. This increase in token generation is linked to reasoning models, like OpenAI’s o1 and DeepSeek’s R1, which break tasks into smaller, manageable chunks. As AI agents process more complex tasks, the tokens multiply, driving up the demand for AI chips and computational capacity.

Barclays analysts caution that while the current infrastructure can handle a significant volume of agents, the rise of these “super agents” might outpace available resources, requiring additional chips and servers to meet demand. OpenAI’s ChatGPT Pro, for example, generates around 9.4 million tokens annually per subscriber, highlighting just how computationally expensive these reasoning models can be.

In essence, the tech industry is at a critical juncture. While AI agents show immense potential, their expansion could strain the limits of current computing infrastructure. The question is, can the industry keep up with the demand?

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