Itaú Unibanco has opened crypto trading to all users of its Íon investment platform, allowing customers to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum directly through the app.
Itaú Unibanco, Latin America’s largest financial institution, has expanded access to crypto trading on its investment platform Íon, making Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) available to all users who download the platform’s app.
Guto Antunes, president of Itaú Digital Assets, explained in an interview with Brazilian newspaper Valor Econômico that the bank’s decision follows weekly surveys with its first group of customers showing strong support for crypto-related products. Antunes emphasized that Itaú has chosen to develop the security of customers’ crypto wallets internally rather than outsourcing it.
“We have partnership and partnership with Liqi, but we have nothing in terms of custody. “The entire custody solution was designed and implemented in Itaú with our fiduciary duty in mind.”
Guto Antunes
Although the bank does not disclose the number of Íon users, the report states that the app has surpassed 3.5 million downloads on Android and iOS devices, which Antunes describes as “significant and surprising for the crypto space.”
Despite the high acceptance, the offer to all users will initially be limited to BTC and ETH. Antunes admitted that customers requested additional tokens and that these were evaluated following a comprehensive regulatory risk assessment. Regarding stablecoins, Antunes said Itaú expects clear regulations from Brazil’s central bank, without detailing the time frame.
Itaú Unibanco first entered the crypto market in late 2023 and launched services for select customers. The bank aims to compete in the Brazilian market with local institutions such as crypto exchange MB, BTG Pactual’s digital asset unit Mynt, and global players such as Binance.