Itaú formalizes crypto trading, offering 15 assets including Bitcoin and Ethereum

Brazil's biggest private bank just moved its crypto desk from the experimental wing to the main building.

Itaú Unibanco has formalized its crypto trading and custody operations with the Central Bank of Brazil. That makes it the first financial institution to do so under the country's new regulatory framework for digital assets. The service covers 15 digital assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDC.

On October 27, 2026, Itaú submitted a notification to the Central Bank of Brazil. The filing landed ahead of the October 30, 2026 compliance deadline set for existing providers.

Timing matters here. Beating the deadline let Itaú use a simplified process designed for financial institutions that are already authorized.

The alternative is a comprehensive license reserved for dedicated virtual-asset service providers.

Under the new rules, authorized institutions can carry out brokerage-category activities without obtaining the full authorization that standalone crypto firms need.

The product itself is not new. Itaú first rolled out its crypto services in December 2023, so the bank has been running this offering for a while.

What changed is its legal standing. The service now sits formally inside Brazil's updated rulebook rather than in the gray zone that preceded it.