Nubank, Brazil’s Largest Digital Bank, Launches Bitcoin and Ether Trading

The trading and custody service is being provided by blockchain infrastructure company Paxos.

AccessTimeIconMay 11, 2022 at 5:36 p.m. UTC
Updated May 11, 2023 at 4:22 p.m. UTC
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Nubank, the largest Brazilian digital bank by market value, is adding the option for customers to buy and sell bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) on its platform, the company announced Wednesday.

Nu Holdings, Nubank's parent company, also said it is allocating roughly 1% of the cash on its balance sheet to bitcoin to show its belief in the cryptocurrency.

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  • The crypto trading and custody service will be provided by Paxos’ blockchain infrastructure, Paxos told CoinDesk.

    The product will gradually be made available to Nubank users in Brazil on Thursday, Paxos said, adding that it will reach all of its customers by the end of July. Regarding the available cryptocurrencies in the future, the company added that it “will do frequent curation to add more.”

    According to Paxos, users will be able to buy and sell crypto with Brazilian reals, but initially won't be able to withdraw or deposit crypto.

    Brazil is experiencing major crypto adoption growth. According to Receita Federal, the Brazilian tax authority, between January and November of 2021, locals traded $11.4 billion in stablecoins, almost triple the amount traded the previous year.

    Until now, Nubank allowed users to invest in crypto only through exchange-traded funds available through its investment unit, NuInvest, according to the company’s website.

    “There is no doubt that crypto is a growing trend in Latin America, one that we have been following closely and believe will have a transformational impact on the region. Yet the trading experience is still very niche as customers either lack information to feel confident to enter this new market or just get frustrated by complex experiences,” Nubank CEO and co-founder David Vélez said in a statement.

    Nubank has 53.9 million users in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, according to its 2021 annual report. Last year, the bank reported revenues of $1.7 billion

    In December, Nu Holdings went public at an initial valuation of $41.5 billion, making it one of Brazil's most valuable companies, though its market cap has since fallen to around $17.4 billion. As of February, Berkshire Hathaway owned about $1 billion worth of shares in the company, despite CEO Warren Buffett being famously critical of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general.

    In December, Paxos partnered with Mercado Pago, the digital wallet of Mercado Libre, Latin America’s largest e-commerce company by market value, to allow its users in Brazil to buy and sell bitcoin, ether and the stablecoin Pax dollar (USDP).

    UPDATE (May 11, 19:39 UTC): Added info about Nu's bitcoin allocation and background on Nubank.



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    CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.

    Andrés Engler

    Andrés Engler was a CoinDesk editor based in Argentina, where he covers the Latin American crypto ecosystem. He holds BTC and ETH.


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