Ethereum
Brazilian bank Itau expands its Bitcoin and Ethereum trading services
The bank’s 60 million customers can now purchase BTC and ETH through the company’s Ion app.
The largest banking institution in Latin America has opened the door for all its clients to gain exposure to Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Itaú Unibanco, Brazil’s largest bank by assets under management, now offers BTC and ETH trading to its more than 60 million customers. Users can access both tokens through the company’s Ion app.
In December 2023, Itaú spear the cryptocurrency trading platform for certain clients. According to Guto Antunes, the company’s head of digital assets, the bank decided to expand its operations due to weekly surveys showing high demand for crypto services.
Although the company only offers the two largest assets by market capitalization, the idea is to add support for other tokens in the future. “It’s starting with Bitcoin, but our overall strategic plan is to expand to other crypto assets in the future,” Antunes said last year.
Brazilian institutions are relentlessly pushing the boundaries when it comes to crypto services in the country. Next to Itaú’s crypto trading platform unveiled last year, Brazilian neobank Nubank has partnered with Circle to offer access to USDC to the company’s 80 million customers.
Latin America is becoming a regional powerhouse in terms of crypto adoption. Recently, a local Argentinian organization called Crecimiento revealed plans to create a Crypto-Silicon Valley in Buenos Aires. Across the Andes, Chile was opening the way for friendlier regulation of fintech companies, with the country approving a new fintech law in 2023.
And the region desperately needs more financial inclusion. It is home to more than 650 million inhabitants, including 122 million unbankedwhile citizens of several countries struggle with double- and triple-digit inflation.