Itaú Unibanco has formalized its crypto trading and custody operations with the Central Bank of Brazil, becoming the first financial institution to do so under the country's new regulatory framework for digital assets. The service covers 15 digital assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDC.
What Itaú actually did
On October 27, 2026, Itaú submitted a notification to the Central Bank of Brazil. The filing landed ahead of the October 30, 2026 compliance deadline set for existing providers.
Beating the deadline allowed Itaú to use a simplified process designed for financial institutions that are already authorized. The alternative is a comprehensive license reserved for dedicated virtual-asset service providers. Under the new rules, authorized institutions can carry out brokerage-category activities without obtaining the full authorization that standalone crypto firms need.
The product itself is not new. Itaú first rolled out its crypto services in December 2023, so the bank has been running this offering for a while. What changed is its legal standing. The service now sits formally inside Brazil's updated rulebook rather than in the gray zone that preceded it.
The menu and the minimums
Itaú's platform offers 15 digital assets. The lineup includes Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and the USDC stablecoin. Customers can start trading with as little as R$10.
The bank also handles custody in-house. Put simply, Itaú holds the assets itself rather than farming that job out to a third party.
Guto Antunes, a senior executive at Itaú, has emphasized client security as a priority for the crypto service. Bank executives have also framed the effort as building a sturdy framework that could benefit the broader crypto sector.
One thing Itaú did not share: numbers. The bank has chosen not to disclose how many customers use the service or how much they trade.
Why Brazil is a big deal for crypto
Brazil is not a sideshow in the digital asset world. According to tax authority data, Brazilians transacted R$505.5 billion in digital assets in 2025.
Itaú is not alone in chasing this demand. Major competitors such as Nubank are also expanding their crypto offerings, responding to growing appetite for digital asset investing.
