Nubank, the largest Brazilian digital bank by market capitalization, announced Wednesday that users would be able to purchase and sell bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) on its platform.
Nu Holdings, Nubank’s parent business, also stated that it is investing around 1% of its cash on its balance sheet to bitcoin to demonstrate its faith in the cryptocurrency.
Paxos’ blockchain infrastructure will supply the crypto trading and custody service, according to Paxos.
According to Paxos, the product will be gradually made accessible to Nubank users in Brazil on Thursday, with the goal of reaching all of its clients by the end of July. In terms of future cryptocurrency availability, the company stated 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.
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