Brazilian banks expand crypto offerings as regulation takes hold

Three of Brazil’s largest financial institutions are now functioning as crypto brokerages for millions of retail customers. Itaú, Nubank, and Banco do Brasil have each built out token menus that rival some standalone exchanges, all while maintaining a strict policy of never holding a single satoshi on their own books. The expansion comes as the Brazilian Central Bank’s new regulatory framework for virtual asset service providers took effect in February 2026, creating the kind of institutional guardrails that tend to make compliance departments sleep better at night. What the banks are actually doing Itaú, the country’s largest private bank, kicked off 2025 offering 15 different tokens to retail clients, including Bitcoin and ether. Banco do Brasil, the state-controlled giant, followed by launching direct investment access to Bitcoin and ether in January 2026. Both institutions are treating crypto as just another asset class available through their existing brokerage platforms. Then there’s Nubank, which has been the most aggressive of the three. The digital bank expanded its crypto platform to 28 assets, adding four new tokens in May 2026 alone. More than 7 million users are now tr...