- CEO of Santander Brasil Mario Leao said that the bank would offer crypto trading in the country.
- He believes that the market is here to stay, and more news should arrive in the months to come.
- Many banks have begun to offer crypto trading services, which could spur adoption.
The Brazilian unit of Spain’s largest commercial bank, Banco Santander, has announced that it will offer cryptocurrency trading services in Brazil. Santander Brasil CEO Mario Leao said that it would begin the service in the coming months in an interview on July 28.
The service will also be available to retail investors, which is different from some other banks that have only offered crypto trading to institutional or professional investors. Leao was confident about the decision to offer the service and said that the market was here to stay,
“We expect in the next few months to have definitions about it, who knows in the next release [of quarterly results], or even before. We recognize that the market is here to stay, and it is not necessarily a reaction to competitors positioning themselves, it is simply a view that our client has demand for this type of asset, so we have to find the most correct and educational way of doing so.”
Santander has shown an interest in the crypto market and blockchain technology before. It announced that it would offer blockchain-based ETFs and also runs a program called the Santander X Global Challenge, which aims to find promising startups. It used ethereum for a $20 million deal in 2019.
More news about Santander Brazil’s crypto trading services could be revealed in the weeks to come. Meanwhile, several other banks are doing the same.
Banks Taking to Offering Crypto Services
Brazil, meanwhile, has also been seeing a lot of crypto-related developments. The country’s biggest bank, Nubank, has added bitcoin and ethereum trading to users. Brazil’s senate has also approved a bill on crypto regulation, paving the way for innovation.
Nubank plans to expand the service to more of Latin America by the end of Q2 2022. It won’t be alone, as many banks now believe that crypto is here to stay and is keen to attract customers. Financial institutions see the interest that retail investors — and even institutional ones — have for crypto, and they do not want to miss out on what many now see as the next evolution of finance.
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