Banco Santander S.A., the Brazilian arm of the Spanish Santander Group, intends to launch cryptocurrency trading this year, if not sooner.
The bank wants to begin delivering crypto-related services to Brazilian clients “in the next months,” Folha de S. Paulo said, quoting Santander Brazil CEO Mario Leo.
The bank intends to have “definitions regarding it” over the next several months, at the next quarterly results announcement or “even before,” according to the bank’s CEO, who added:
“We recognise that this is a market that is here to stay, and it is not necessarily a reaction to how competitors have positioned themselves; rather, it is a result of our client’s demand for these types of assets, for which we must determine the most appropriate and instructive way to provide them.”
Itaú, the largest bank in Latin America, launched a new of its own asset tokenization platform, Itaú Digital Assets, on July 14, while XP and Nubank both launched their crypto services in May, according to the newspaper.
In May, it was announced that Nubank planned to invest 1 percent of its portfolio in bitcoin (BTC) and will roll out app features allowing users to buy, trade, and keep bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH).
In addition, crypto has been expanding over the area for some time. As reported in January of this year, for instance, Argentine e-commerce behemoth Mercado Libre invested in Mercado Bitcoin and Paxos (PAX) in an effort to increase its footprint in the cryptosphere as well as the growth and acceptance of digital assets in Latin America.
Reuters reported on Thursday that Banco Santander Brasil SA “above market forecasts for second-quarter net income” as its net profit grew 2 percent from the previous quarter to BRL 4.08 billion (USD 787m).
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