Itaú Unibanco, a Brazilian digital bank, has launched Itaú Digital Assets as it targets the crypto asset sector of finance.
The bank has created a dedicated web page for Itaú Digital Assets indicating its mission to tokenize, issue, and trade digital assets as well as provide custody. The page points to data that indicates by 2027 tokenized assets will represent around $24 trillion in volume.
It has been reported that Itaú Unibanco aims to tokenize assets and securities on a private blockchain – Hyperledger.
A test security token offering available for private clients was said to involve a “receivables product.”
As part of the company’s overall strategy, Itaú Unibanco has acquired a significant stake in Avenue Securities – with plans to control the brokerage.
The agreement between the two companies means that Itaú Unibanco will purchase 35.0% of Avenue’s capital stock, contingent upon regulatory approval. Two years after the completion of the first purchase, Itaú Unibanco will acquire an additional interest of 15.1% for an amount to be determined based on a pre-defined adjusted revenue multiple, reaching control with 50.1%.
After five years from the completion date of the first contribution, Itaú Unibanco may exercise a purchase option to acquire the remaining interest held by the other shareholders of Avenue.
Avenue is a platform that enables access to North American financial products for Brazilians. Users of their services can carry out transactions from reais to dollars, as well as access investment products that include stocks, ETFs, REITs, mutual funds, fixed income assets as well as cryptocurrencies in addition to a current account in dollars linked to a debit card. Avenue has around 230,000 active accounts and R6.4 billion in assets.
Itaú Unibanco is a digital bank that also has physical locations that are operating in 18 countries with over 60 million customers,