IBKR Launches Crypto Trading for EEA Investors: 11 Major Cryptocurrencies Now Accessible to 450 Million Users

Interactive Brokers (NASDAQ: IBKR) has officially launched cryptocurrency trading services across the European Economic Area (EEA), marking a pivotal integration of traditional finance with digital assets. Through its regulated Irish subsidiary, Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited, the platform now offers direct access to 11 cryptocurrencies—including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and Cardano—to approximately 450 million individuals, eliminating the need for separate apps to manage hybrid portfolios. The expansion, powered by crypto infrastructure firm ZeroHash, signals a major institutional embrace of digital asset accessibility within regulated financial frameworks.

Low costs and in-kind transfers

This announcement comes after IBKR recently released a technology that lets users move cryptocurrency directly into accounts linked to their Interactive Brokers brokerage from external wallets or other platforms.

An investor would have had to liquidate their holdings prior to switching from a solo bitcoin wallet to a full-service brokerage, which could have resulted in transaction charges and tax issues.

The new in-kind transfer option removes that step for supported currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.

Interactive Brokers now provides customers with a single view of their whole portfolio, including stocks, bonds, options, futures, and digital assets, by integrating cryptocurrency trading with its current platform.

This allows for more effective risk and liquidity management across both traditional and crypto holdings.

This push toward seamless crypto integration for retail investors is now finding echoes in institutional channels, as growing demand for unified traditional and crypto exposure is increasingly mirrored by regulatory shifts in the world’s largest retirement market.

U.S. retirement plans open to crypto

A similar change is taking place on the other side of the Atlantic.

The Trump administration’s U.S. Department of Labor published a proposal on Monday that would let workplace retirement plans to incorporate investments in private equity, cryptocurrency, and other assets beyond the conventional mix of stocks and bonds.

An estimated 721,000 retirement plans with over $8.8 trillion in total assets and 118 million workers will be affected by the change.

The proposal was supported by U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who stated that it would allow plans to reflect the current state of the investing landscape and provide a “major win for American workers, retirees, and their families.”

Supporters of the plan argue that private funds have historically outperformed public markets over the long run.

Critics immediately replied. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts claims that the measure would expose retirement funds to hazardous assets.

“Americans facing an uncertain future in Trump’s economy will now have more reasons to question the security of their retirement savings,” she stated.

This most recent growth, together with the increasing institutional adoption of cryptocurrency, strengthens Interactive Brokers’ standing as a pioneer in the global integration of digital assets and traditional finance.

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