Itaú Unibanco has formally notified the Central Bank of Brazil that it provides cryptocurrency trading and custody services, becoming the first Brazilian bank to complete the regulatory formalization process under the country’s dedicated virtual-asset framework. The filing, reported on October 27, covers intermediation and custody—classified as virtual-asset brokerage—and brings an existing business into compliance ahead of the October 30 transition deadline.
The bank first entered crypto trading on December 4, 2023, initially allowing selected customers of its íon investment platform to buy Bitcoin and Ether with a minimum investment of R$10 and bank-managed custody. In June 2024, access was extended to all active íon users, and in December 2024 Itaú integrated crypto trading into its main Superapp. At that time, Itaú reported roughly 300% growth in monthly cryptocurrency purchase volume since launch and a more than 30% increase in new crypto customers in the preceding month.
By October 2026, the bank had expanded its offering from two assets to 15: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, USDC, Chainlink, Aave, Avalanche, Litecoin, Polygon, Bitcoin Cash, Uniswap, Optimism, Arbitrum and Pax Gold. This broadens exposure to decentralized-finance tokens, scaling-network assets, a dollar-linked stablecoin and a gold-backed token, though Itaú has not disclosed current trading volumes, assets under custody or active digital-asset investor totals.
Under Central Bank Resolution 520, eligible financial institutions already authorized by the central bank may provide specified virtual-asset services through a notification procedure, while standalone virtual-asset service providers face a separate authorization process. The resolution took effect on February 2 and gave eligible institutions 270 days to notify the regulator, creating the October 30 deadline. The process requires independent technical certification that the institution meets applicable governance, custody and operational requirements. Institutions that miss the notification deadline must stop providing virtual-asset services within 30 days. Under Resolution 589, a second milestone on November 6 restricts Brazilian financial institutions from facilitating virtual-asset transactions involving providers that lack required authorization, subject to regulatory exceptions.
Itaú’s historical pricing illustrates the economics: when trading reached the Superapp in December 2024, the bank disclosed a 2.5% purchase fee with no monthly charges or additional selling fee under the terms announced at that time. On that basis, a R$1,000 purchase would incur R$25 in purchase fees before execution-price differences. The bank has not confirmed whether that fee structure remains current.
For Itaú, crypto trading adds a transaction-revenue stream within its existing customer platform and removes the need for clients to manage private keys. The commercial question is whether that convenience justifies the cost compared with specialized cryptocurrency exchanges. Brazil’s new oversight framework now tests whether established banks can convert compliance infrastructure into a durable advantage in digital-asset services.
