Brazil’s Largest Bank Expands Bitcoin and Ether Trading to All Customers

Brazil-based Itaú Unibanco, one of Latin America’s largest private banks, has announced the expansion of its Bitcoin and Ether trading services to all customers. With over 60 million customers, Itaú started offering crypto trading through its investment platform ‘Ion’ in December 2023, initially limited to select clients before gradually rolling out to a wider audience via the app.

Guto Antunes, head of Itaú Digital Assets, confirmed the expansion during an interview on Monday. He highlighted the positive feedback from weekly surveys conducted with customers who had access to cryptocurrency operations, revealing a high level of trust in Itaú’s in-house custody solution. The bank, which developed its own tool for securing customers’ crypto wallets, received support from tokenizer Liqi in the solution’s development but maintained full custody internally.

In Alignment with the Central Bank of Brazil

Itaú has created a separate digital wallet for each client to comply with the asset segregation requirements set by Brazil’s Central Bank. The Central Bank plans to segment the crypto regulation process, with new regulatory proposals expected by the end of the year.

The ‘Ion’ app has seen over 3.5 million downloads on both Android and iOS platforms. “Even in the staggered phase, it was a relevant number for the crypto universe and a surprise,” Antunes remarked. Currently, the bank supports trading for Bitcoin and Ether, with plans to include more cryptocurrencies as customer demand grows and regulatory risk analyses are completed.

Itaú is also anticipating new rules from the Central Bank regarding stablecoin operations in Brazil. “We are aligned with the BC in the development of regulation; we want to grow in the right way,” Antunes said. He added that the main challenge during the testing phase was training managers to advise clients on this new asset type, which was addressed by creating an AI chatbot for experts and managers to understand key customer questions.