Brazilian Bank Itau Unibanco to Offer Cryptocurrency Custody Services in 2023

Itau Unibanco, one of many largest Brazilian banks, has introduced it would provide cryptocurrency custody companies in 2023. Itau Digital Assets, the cryptocurrency unit of the corporate, will likely be accountable for this providing, which will likely be first out there to clients of the financial institution, after which to 3rd events as a service.

Brazilian Bank Itau Unibanco to Debut Crypto Custody Offering

Itau Unibanco, one of many largest non-public banks in Brazil and Latam, has determined to step into the crypto-related companies enterprise. The firm introduced on Nov. 17, 2022, that it plans to launch cryptocurrency custody companies in 2023. Itau Digital Assets, the division of the corporate that offers with all issues crypto, will likely be answerable for the tech behind this answer.

For Itau Unibanco, custody companies are an necessary a part of the safety framework that third-party firms can provide customers. On this, Itau Unibanco’s product supervisor Eric Alftafim told O Globo:

Custody is a elementary aspect on this context, as a result of, particularly in a brand new market like crypto belongings, it brings safety to traders. We will safeguard buyer belongings in a dependable setting.

The cryptocurrency custody service will likely be carried out in two phases. The first part will permit clients of the financial institution to contract these companies. The second part will prolong these companies to 3rd events together with different firms and establishments. Itau Unibanco expects to launch its custody answer in Q2 2023. However, the corporate didn’t reveal the belongings supported by its answer.

While Itau Unibanco is without doubt one of the first banks to announce this type of service, it’s not the primary in Brazil. BTG Pactual, one other establishment in Brazil, debuted its cryptocurrency custody companies as a part of the launch of its personal crypto alternate, known as mint, in August.

Itau’s Cryptocurrency Journey

This just isn’t the primary time that Itau Unibanco flirts with crypto. The firm announced that it’d introduce cryptocurrency buying and selling for its clients on July 14. In the identical approach, the financial institution can also be working a tokenization unit, that permits clients to challenge tokens representing real-world belongings within the financial institution’s personal alternate.

Itau Unibanco can also be a part of this 12 months’s LIFT Lab, the place a collection of establishments current their initiatives with the concept of innovating the present finance system. The firm was selected to current a Brazilian actual pegged stablecoin answer, that would permit for fast alternate between tokens representing different fiat currencies in a decentralized finance setting.

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