Itaú Unibanco Offers Cryptocurrency Trading Service to All Íon Customers
But this is about the biggest bank in Latin America, Itaú Unibanco, which has announced the launch of an investment platform on Íon, which will be available to all customers, and all of the platform from there, will be able to negotiate in the crypto sector. This allows Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) to be bought or sold by anyone who uses the app. This is an important right step for Brazilian banking.
Demand for Crypto Products
According to the Brazilian newspaper Valor Econômico, Itaú Digital Assets director Guto Antunes confirmed that several customers have sought to trade cryptocurrencies. The products were something people really wanted; early user surveys showed a lot of interest.
Developing Security In-House
Itaú decided not to outsource security to protect clients’ crypto wallets Antunes explained.
“We function with Liqi and are Benetti, on the other hand, the custody was 100% created by Itaú for security reasons”.
Guto Antunes
Increasing Popularity of Brazil Íon Platform
Antunes referred to 3.5 million downloads of its Íon app for Android and iOS as a “notable feat” for crypto in Brazil
Future Plans
Currently, only BTC and ETH are listed but users are demanding for more coins. A bank is reportedly in the process of reviewing it subject to due regulatory scrutiny. Itau is awaiting Brazilian Central Bank regulation regarding stablecoins.
With Crypto Market competitiveness
Itaú Unibanco began rolling out its crypto services in late 2023 to a handful of customers. And now, it wants to take on local players like MB and BTG Pactual´s Mynt, as well as global names like Binance in Brazil.
As a result of this expansion Itaú Unibanco is positioned to become a major player in terms of offering secure and regulatory compliant access to digital assets to an even larger range of investors in Brazil.
