Itau Unibanco, the largest bank in Brazil and Latin America, has opened up Bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading to its more than 60 million customers. Reports say.
BREAKING NEWS: 🇧🇷 60,000,000 customers of Brazil’s largest bank can now start making purchases #Bitcoin And cryptocurrency.
Gradually, then suddenly pic.twitter.com/KXSjPLFzCP
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) June 12, 2024
The bank’s investment app, Aeon, initially only offered cryptocurrency trading but now allows users to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum as well. Selected clients for December 2023.
In an interview, Itau’s head of digital assets, Guto Antunes, said the move was the result of a weekly survey, which showed that early users were demonstrating strong demand for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency services.
While he did not disclose user numbers, Antunes said the Ion app has been downloaded more than 3.5 million times, which is of great interest for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Brazil.
The bank has chosen to build its own custody solution for customer wallets rather than using a third party: each user is provided with an individual wallet to ensure asset segregation.
As Brazil’s largest bank, opening up widespread access to Bitcoin will help drive mainstream adoption. Given Bitcoin’s popularity in Brazil, the bank aims to become the preferred gateway to this new asset class.
The adoption of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies by a conservatively regulated institution like Itaú is further proof that Bitcoin is an investable innovation that is here to stay, and more banks in the region may follow suit.
For Brazilian Bitcoin users, buying and selling through existing banks increases accessibility and removes adoption hurdles, making Itaú’s opening up a major milestone in Bitcoin’s financial mainstreaming. latin americaeconomy.
