Itau Unibanco, described as the largest bank in Brazil, has decided to open cryptocurrency trading services to its massive user base of more than 60 million.
This move from Itau Unibanco comes after the bank tried to offer this functionality to a small group of selected users to check if users were interested in accessing this service at all, and after receiving a positive response from the trial, the bank decided to roll out this cryptocurrency trading feature to all its users
Guto Antunes, head of Itaú Digital Assets, reportedly said that acceptance of the cryptocurrency trading service was high, and the bank conducted weekly surveys with customers who were part of the trials
The cryptocurrency sector is currently worth $2.45 trillion (about Rs 20,475 crore) with more than 2.4 million cryptocurrencies in circulation , according to CoinMarketCap.
According to a report by Binance, the cryptocurrency user base in Brazil is expected to grow to 11 million in 2024 if it maintains its 2023 growth rate of 186 percent from January to July
In another report, Statista predicted that the cryptocurrency market in Brazil will be worth $1,094 million (about Rs 9,141 crore) by the end of 2024
It is also possible that these statistics indicating the growth of the cryptocurrency sector in Brazil contributed to Itau Unibanco's decision to open its cryptocurrency trading services to its huge user base
Brazil currently holds the position of President of the G20, succeeding India in this position, and as part of its presidency, the country is working with global financial oversight bodies to develop laws to regulate the cryptocurrency sector and Web3 in general
The country is expected to unveil the second phase of cryptocurrency rules by the end of 2024