Nubank, Brazil’s largest digital bank by market value, is launching the option for customers to buy and sell bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) on its platform.
The fintech company will now allow Brazilian customers to make cryptocurrency transactions on its banking app starting beginning this month. NuBank also announced it had purchased bitcoin of about 1% of its cash holding. Bitcoin and ether transactions will begin at one real ($0.1950) with crypto trading and custody service courtesy of Paxos’ blockchain infrastructure.
NuBank boasts a little under 54 million in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia and reported revenues of $1.7 billion in 2021.
As it stands, in Latin America, the Bitcoin market is wide open.
According to the World Bank, almost half of the people in the region are without a bank account. However, the majority of those who do not have access to a bank account have access to a mobile phone.
Paxos, NuBank’s parent company, plans to reach all of its customers by the end of July.
“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.
Countries in the region are already considering ways to ride the cryptocurrency wave.
In December, El Salvador announced plans to build a Bitcoin city at the base of the Conchagua volcano, not only using the cryptocurrency to fund the project but also leveraging the volcano’s geothermal energy to power Bitcoin mining.
President Nayib Bukele proclaimed the city would contain “residential areas, commercial areas, services, museums, entertainment, bars, restaurants, airport, port, rail – everything devoted to Bitcoin.”
