Itau Unibanco, one of the largest holding companies in Brazil, has announced that it is considering offering cryptocurrency trading services to its clients. The company announced that it also plans to offer tokenization services through its digital assets division, which would serve as a platform for clients to issue tokens backed by real-world assets and facilitate their transactions.
Itau Unibanco adds tokenization service
Financial companies are beginning to diversify their offerings by including blockchain and crypto-related services. Itaú Unibanco, a leading Brazilian holding company and financial services firm, has announced that it will begin offering tokenization services to its clients. To do so, the company is creating an entirely new unit within its organization called Itaú Digital Assets, which will provide tokenization capabilities and act as an intermediary between the market and companies that want to move their assets to the blockchain. The company will use the Hyperledger Besu platform for tokenization, and the tokens created will only be tradable within its exchange.
According to localpress reportsthe company has already tested tokenization and issued tokens to some retail customers and bank employees, but no official reports on this trial have been made. Vanessa Fernandes, a senior executive at the company, will lead this new trial as head of the Digital Assets unit.
crypto trading services being considered
While the focus of the new unit is to offer tokenization services to customers, Fernandez believes the company may be able to offer more than that in the future. The executive commented that the company is considering offering cryptocurrency trading services to its customers in the future, but declined to elaborate further.
Itau is the latest in a series of Brazilian companies that see opportunities in the field of cryptocurrency trading. Just recently, Picpay, one of the most popular digital wallet and payment providers, announced that it will begin offering cryptocurrency trading and payment services in August. Similarly, Nubank, another Brazilian digital bank, launched a similar transaction service in May.
Brazil’s central bank has declared that it will test its own currency, the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), this year. Regulation of crypto assets is also underway, with the Brazilian Senate approving a crypto bill, which will be discussed in the Chamber of Deputies.
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