Building a Trusted Bridge Between Traditional Finance and Digital Assets

At a time where blockchain technology promises to reshape the foundations of financial infrastructure, CACEIS has emerged as a pioneer within the European asset servicing space. As the dedicated asset servicing arm of the Crédit Agricole Group, CACEIS has made digital assets a keystone of its strategic vision, establishing a dedicated business line in 2024 that has rapidly evolved into a market-leading operation.

 

Our commitment reflects a strong belief that the migration of financial instruments onto blockchain infrastructures is a fundamental shift in how assets will be created, stored, and transferred in the future. Digital assets are not a side experiment for our group, they are central to our Mid-Term Plan and to Crédit Agricole's broader ACT 2028 strategy.

"Digital assets represent a true revolution for the financial system and a major challenge for CACEIS and the Crédit Agricole Group," explained Jean-Jacques Barbéris, Deputy CEO in charge of Coverage and Digital Assets of CACEIS.  

This strategic positioning builds on the group’s deep institutional experience. Jean-Jacques Barbéris, who previously served as Deputy CEO of Amundi, draws a compelling parallel: "It's basically exactly the same thing that happened in the 1980s with dematerialisation. We're going from physical to digital instruments. It's the same type of revolution and offers a potential step-change in the plumbing of the financial system."

 

A Regulatory First Mover

CACEIS' digital assets journey gained critical momentum in June 2025, when the firm obtained MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation) authorisation from the ACPR, the French authority supervising banking and insurance. This landmark approval allows CACEIS to provide crypto-asset custody, administration, order reception and transmission, and crypto-asset transfers across the entire European Union via passporting rights.

The MiCA licence is a strategic asset for the group, not just a step towards regulatory compliance. "Without a MiCA licence, you're not even allowed to offer custody services for all digital assets to our own clients," explained Laurent Majchrzak, Global Head of Digital Assets at CACEIS. "Obtain it took a lot of work that we have now leveraged to enhance our processes. We were able to do it safely and demonstrated to the regulator that we operate within a robust infrastructure."

CACEIS now has a unique pan-European regulated footprint, with Europe-wide MiCA authorisation which replaces the previous local status as Digital Asset Service Provider (DASP) status in France and Spain and Luxembourg. This regulatory coverage positions our group well to serve institutional clients wherever they operate, with the same security and reliability standards as traditional asset custody.

 

The Product Suite: From Custody to Tokenisation

CACEIS has built a comprehensive suite of digital asset products that spans the entire value chain. At its core lies institutional-grade custody, offering clients the ability to hold digital assets alongside traditional financial instruments in hybrid portfolios that benefit from consolidated reporting.

"We offer custody for digital assets in the same way as we offer custody for traditional financial instruments," said Laurent Majchrzak. "That was the key initiative for CACEIS to enable our clients to hold traditional financial assets and tokenised financial assets, as well as crypto-assets such as stablecoins or Bitcoin in the same portfolio."

The digital custody service is already live in France and Luxembourg, with Germany and Italy scheduled for the second half of 2026, and the UK and Switzerland next year. 

The group's second pillar focuses on tokenisation of funds and their distribution on blockchain. "We act as hybrid transfer agent in Luxembourg and centralisation agent for tokenised funds in France," Laurent Majchrzak explained. "We help our clients distribute their funds locally and internationally, as well as on blockchain. We are using our infrastructure to tokenise fund shares, and we will be doing the same in the future with funds like ETFs, as well as tokenized equities digital twins."

 

Industry Firsts

A defining moment for CACEIS' digital assets business came through our partnership with Amundi, the largest asset manager in Europe. CACEIS provides custody services for Amundi's first crypto Exchange Traded Note (ETN) invested in crypto assets, a bitcoin-linked product that responds to growing retail demand for indirect exposure to crypto.

Jean-Jacques Barbéris, who was involved in the project from the Amundi side before joining CACEIS, offered unique insight: "The ETN Bitcoin was first requested by the banking networks. It came directly as a demand from retail partner banks who were facing fierce competition from neo-banks and digital platforms offering access to crypto. It was a project that took a little less than one year overall."

The partnership has since deepened. "We recently announced the next phase of our development with the launch of a euro-denominated stablecoin, EURXT (EURO eXchange Token)," Laurent Majchrzak noted. "We also completed the first subscription to an Amundi tokenised money market fund using EURXT, setting a new precedent in Europe."

An additional illustration of our digital momentum is when CACEIS achieved another industry first in November 2025, providing the complete technology and infrastructure for Amundi's first tokenised money-market fund share on Ethereum. This hybrid model enabled both traditional and blockchain-based distribution, paving the way for delivering near-instant execution and 24/7 operability.

In April 2026, CACEIS acted as depositary for or clients who invested the world's first natively tokenised IPO on Lise, the first European tokenised exchange dedicated to SMEs and mid-cap companies. This milestone demonstrates CACEIS' ability to operate on next-generation infrastructures while maintaining the highest compliance and operational security standards. A strategic investment in Kriptown to support Lise's launch further cemented the group's commitment to market infrastructure transformation under the EU DLT Pilot Regime.

 

The Trust Advantage

One of CACEIS' most compelling differentiators in the digital assets space is its institutional status. In a market sometimes associated with newcomers, volatility, reputational risk, CACEIS brings the operational robustness, financial resilience, strong risk management culture and reliability of a systemic bank.

"Using the trust argument of being a systemic bank offering digital services, and really putting our reputational capital on the line, is a strong selling point for CACEIS compared to other players that may not be as resilient," said Jean-Jacques Barbéris.

Laurent Majchrzak agreed: "We are a consolidator. We have been supporting clients who entrust us with their assets, whether it’s cash, securities, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds or derivatives. Clearly, we need to be ready to respond to the needs of our institutional clientele who want to provide digital asset access to the end investor."

 

The Path Ahead

Looking to the future, CACEIS sees immense opportunity in tokenisation, with potential to fundamentally reshape how financial markets operate. "We are starting a project on the tokenisation of ETFs with the potential to completely change the markets," said Laurent Majchrzak. "The ETF market is organised as a primary market - the fund with authorised participants - and then a secondary market. With tokenisation, retail investors could have direct access via blockchain, bypassing the primary market."

CACEIS’ ambition is supported by significant investment. "First, it requires investment, and the Group has clearly committed to that," noted Jean-Jacques Barbéris. "Second, it involves testing a number of initiatives along the way, which calls for a strong entrepreneurial mindset and an acceptance that there is still a great deal we do not know."

CACEIS’ approach balances ambition with pragmatism. "We need to experiment widely and build partnerships with other entities and external stakeholders," Jean-Jacques Barbéris stated. "At the same time, we should remain modest and clear-eyed about the scale and impact of the current digital transformation."

For CACEIS, digital assets represent not a departure from the core business but an evolution. By positioning itself as a benchmark player in tokenised finance, the Group remains what it has always been: a trusted custodian of client assets, now bridging the gap between traditional finance and the decentralised future.

As Jean-Jacques Barbéris observed, "Everything needs to change for everything to remain equal. In the world of digital assets, CACEIS is ensuring that its clients, and the Crédit Agricole group, remain not just equal, but ahead.”