Brazil's largest digital bank launches bitcoin and ether trading

Nubank, Brazil's largest digital bank, will start selling bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) to its customers who will be able to buy these cryptocurrencies with Brazilian reals. 

On its website Nubank announced today that it will be possible to buy and sell bitcoin and ether from its application, for which it will rely on the Paxos infrastructure, which will provide the custody and trading service, a bit like it does. Bitcoin Pro, just to be clear. 

What Brazilian users will be able to do

Users will be able to buy and sell cryptocurrencies with Brazilian reals, but initially they will not be able to withdraw or deposit their cryptoassets. This is because, for now, the cryptocurrency purchase option is being tested and is only available to a group of customers.  

According to the press release, the offering will be available to the public starting tomorrow, Thursday 12 May, and will be gradually expanded to cover the entire customer base in Brazil, as planned by the end of July this year. 

Nubank specifies that it has made the decision to enter this "universe" of cryptocurrencies with which it covers 60% of the market, although it does not rule out adding support for other cryptocurrencies in the future.

According to the company, customers won't have to open new accounts to trade cryptocurrencies, but will only be able to use the accounts they currently have.  

To exchange bitcoins or Ether, Nubank users will only have to go to the “Crypto” section, which will appear on the main screen of the application, where they will be able to select the option of their choice, between buy and sell. 

Banks towards the future

According to the company, it will be possible to invest from just one Brazilian real and does not require users to pay a minimum entry fee. 

Brazil's largest fintech acquired Easynvest, a platform that actively offered Latin America's first bitcoin ETF, in September 2020. 

In February of this year, Warren Buffett, one of the richest men in the world, invested $ 1 billion in class A shares of neobank Nubank, which now indirectly appears to be making a nod to pioneering cryptocurrency.