Itaú Unibanco, the largest bank in Brazil and Latin America, has opened Bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading, According to reports.
The bank's investment app, Ion, now allows users to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum after initially offering cryptocurrency trading to only select customers in December 2023.
In an interview, Guto Antunes, head of digital assets at Itau, said the move came on the heels of weekly surveys, where initial users showed strong demand for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency services.
Although user numbers were not disclosed, Antunes said the Ion app has surpassed 3.5 million downloads, representing significant interest in bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in Brazil.
The bank chose to build its own custody solution for clients' portfolios rather than using third parties. Each user gets a separate wallet to ensure segregation of assets.
As the largest bank in Brazil with a broad reach, opening access to Bitcoin will boost mainstream adoption. With the popularity of Bitcoin in Brazil, the bank aims to be its preferred gateway to this new asset class.
The embrace of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies by a conservatively regulated institution like Itaú further validates Bitcoin as an investable innovation that is here to stay. More banks in the region may follow suit.
For Bitcoin users in Brazil, buying and selling through their existing bank provides access and removes adoption hurdles. Opening the floodgates represents a milestone in the financial mainstreaming of Bitcoin in a major Latin American economy.
