[NEWS] Brazil's largest bank Itau launches Bitcoin and Ethereum trading service

Brazil's largest bank Itau Unibanco (ITUB4.SA) launched a cryptocurrency trading service for customers of the investment platform ION on the 4th. Reuters and other news agencies reported.

This is the first time that Brazil's largest financial institution has entered the digital asset market. It will start trading Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).

Due to regulations, the cryptocurrency trading service provided by Itau is only available to customers registered with ION. In the initial stage, users registered with ION will be able to purchase cryptocurrency from 10 reais (about 300 yen).

In the future, Itau will compete with other financial institutions such as cryptocurrency exchange MB, investment bank BTG Pactual's digital asset division Mynt, Nubank, and existing major cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance.

After reports of Itau's entry into the cryptocurrency market in May of this year, Itau joined the Brazilian Cryptocurrency Economic Association in June.

Guto Antunes, head of digital assets at Itau, said, "We are entering a mature market. We will start with Bitcoin, but our comprehensive strategic plan is to expand to other cryptocurrencies in the future."

Cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals are not currently supported

The storage of cryptocurrencies traded on ION is managed by Itau, and the isolation of assets is ensured, but access to the private keys of cryptocurrency wallets is reserved. The company is currently considering the risk of hacking.

According to Antunes, in the initial stage, it will not be possible for external parties to deposit Bitcoin or Ethereum into Itau accounts or withdraw funds to cryptocurrency wallets.

As a bank, he cited the security that customers experience when storing their funds in a traditional bank account, promising the security of the balance sheet to protect the investments. He also added, "We are a generation that has grown up and is banking in a tokenized way."

Itau is also participating in a pilot project to implement Brazil's first CBDC (central bank digital currency), Drex, and has also launched a crypto fund.

Itau's entry into the crypto space comes a month after two local companies announced they were exiting the crypto market. Brokerage and investment firm XP did not give a reason for halting its crypto trading services, while financial services firm PicPay, a subsidiary of conglomerate J&F, cited regulatory uncertainty.

Source:Reuters
Image: Shutterstock

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