Itaú Unibanco, Brazil’s largest private bank, has formally registered its role as a cryptocurrency service provider with the Central Bank of Brazil. According to local reports cited in the Bitcoin Magazine article, the filing covers crypto-asset intermediation and custody, the same activities the regulator assigns to brokerage firms.
The filing lands as Brazil’s crypto sector faces a tighter deadline to secure licenses. Itaú is stepping into a regulatory structure that did not exist a year earlier. Brazil’s central bank requires any company that holds, moves, or trades crypto on behalf of customers to register as a regulated provider. By filing now, Itaú is making clear that it intends to operate inside that system.
Custody rules are the most immediate change for users
For Brazilian customers, custody is the key issue. A provider that holds crypto for clients must keep those assets separate from the firm’s own money, meet minimum capital requirements, and follow the same governance and anti-money laundering standards that apply to securities brokers. Clients using an authorized bank have a clearer legal position than those using an unregulated app or an offshore exchange.
For Itaú, the filing also carries weight as an operational commitment. A regulated crypto business comes with compliance costs, audit duties, and reporting obligations that smaller competitors may find harder to absorb. The move also points to a broader direction in Brazil: major lenders appear willing to keep crypto activity within the domestic financial system rather than leave it to foreign platforms.
Itaú’s crypto push began before the new rules
Itaú’s crypto involvement predates this filing. The bank announced plans for crypto custody in 2022 while building a tokenization platform. In late 2025, it started allowing retail clients to buy and sell bitcoin through its investment app, íon. The crypto assets traded on íon are held in custody by Itaú itself, which means the bank had already taken on an operational crypto role before its regulatory status was formally defined.
Brazil built the new licensing regime in 2025 and early 2026
The regulatory backdrop took shape in 2025 and early 2026, when the Central Bank of Brazil published Resolutions 519, 520, and 521. Those measures created a new license category called Sociedades Prestadoras de Serviços de Ativos Virtuais, or SPSAVs. The rules took effect on Feb. 2, 2026.
The framework divides providers into three groups: intermediaries, custodians, and brokers. It requires formal segregation of client and company assets, sets minimum capital levels, and extends customer protection, governance, internal control, security, and anti-money laundering rules already used for banks and brokers to crypto businesses as well.
Resolution 521 also brought crypto transactions into the foreign-exchange regime. Transfers involving unauthorized counterparties are subject to a $100,000 cap, limiting how crypto can move across borders outside regulated channels.
Companies that were already operating when the regime took effect had to apply for authorization during a transition period. That timing is why Itaú’s filing reads less like a routine administrative update and more like a response to a regulatory deadline.
Tighter standards have already been approved for 2027
More stringent rules are set to follow. On July 1, 2026, the central bank approved tighter standards. Starting in 2027, providers will have to meet financial security requirements similar to those imposed on securities brokers and distributors.
The regulator also barred institutions in Segment 5 from offering virtual asset services. Segment 5 is the simplified-rules category for smaller banks. That decision shifts crypto activity toward larger and better-capitalized players, a group that includes Itaú.
The article was first published by Bitcoin Magazine and written by Micah Zimmerman.
