Brazilian Banks Pivot to Crypto Without Balancing the Risk

Itaú, Nubank, and Banco do Brasil have integrated crypto into their familiar banking interfaces, collectively offering dozens of assets to millions of users. Nubank leads the pack with 28 listed tokens, while Itaú provides access to 15, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins. Banco do Brasil, which began offering direct Bitcoin and Ethereum purchases in January, has already processed over R$11 million in client transactions.

This expansion follows a massive spike in market activity, with national crypto transactions hitting R$505.5 billion in 2025—a 22% increase over the previous year. However, regulatory filings from March 2026 confirm that these institutions hold zero virtual assets on their own balance sheets. By acting as custodians or order executors rather than proprietary traders, banks avoid direct exposure to the liquidity and credit risks inherent in the crypto market.

Carlos Akira Sato, co-founder of the consultancy Syscapital, notes that this cautious approach is a hallmark of the conservative banking sector. The Central Bank of Brazil has reinforced this separation by enacting strict licensing and capital requirements for virtual-asset service providers. Under these new rules, which align crypto operations with traditional brokerage standards, banks leverage their existing compliance structures to offer services that crypto-only firms are still scrambling to authorize. While Banco Safra has experimented with issuing its own stablecoin, most major banks remain firmly focused on playing the role of the middleman rather than the investor.