According to a local media publication, the Brazilian subsidiary of the Spanish Santander Group, Banco Santander SA, is eyeing to introduce crypto trading to its clients. folha d’s paulo,
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Santander Brazil CEO Mario Leo reportedly said that the bank expects to share more details on the matter in the next few months, possibly during the publication of its next quarterly results.
“We believe this is a market that is here to stay, and it is not necessarily a reaction to competitors’ own position; it is simply a vision that our client has in demand for these types of assets, so We have to find the right and most educational way to do it,” Leo said.
According to the report, the Brazilian subsidiary of Santander is looking at using blockchain technology to tokenize traditional market assets, such as debt securities issued by companies, with the goal of making these assets accessible to a wider audience.
The announcement follows a similar move by Brazil’s largest bank, NuBank, which began offering Bitcoin And Ethereum Business to users in May. Earlier this week, NuBank said that it has acquired 1 million users on its crypto trading platform in just two months.
In a sign to demonstrate its confidence in the cryptocurrency, NewBank is allocating about 1% of the cash on its balance sheet to bitcoin.
Another major financial player in Brazil, banking giant Itau, announced the launch of its own asset tokenization platform, Itau Digital Assets, on July 14, the report said.
Santander’s Blockchain Inroads
For Santander, this is not the first foray into the world of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.
Bank launches One Pay FX, a digital banking app powered by Wave For cross-border payments, in 2018, more significant updates were added the following year, making it available to retail customers in the UK, Spain, Poland and Brazil.
In 2019, Santander announced the launch of a $20 million public-run blockchain bond Ethereum Blockchain is successfully completing work that began in the bank’s own blockchain lab in 2016.