Itaú Unibanco, the largest banking institution in Brazil, is considering the issuance of a stablecoin, cautiously hoping to learn from the experiences of American banks and the final stablecoin regulations in the country.
Itaú Unibanco Talks in-House Stablecoin, Regulation in Brazil
Banks from all over the world are eyeing stablecoins and how these new assets can fit into their business model. Itaú Unibanco, the largest bank in Brazil and Latam, recently floated the possibility of issuing an in-house stablecoin to serve its over 55 million customers.
Guto Antunes, head of digital assets at Itaú declared that this interest has surged after the pivot of the U.S. government’s stance on crypto, and the relevance that stablecoins have taken after being mentioned as tools to promote and protect the sovereignty of the dollar.
At a bank event, Antunes stated:
Of course, it is always on the agenda. The issue of stablecoins has always been on Itaú’s radar. We cannot ignore the power that blockchain has to settle transactions atomically.
Furthermore, Antunes assessed that even a Brazilian real stablecoin was not ruled out in today’s market context. “We are always open to understanding for our client whether it makes sense to have a stablecoin, even one in reals, within Itaú,” he noted.
Before this can happen, the bank is evaluating the experiences of other financial institutions that are also issuing stablecoins and the finalization of the stablecoin regulation in the country.
Nonetheless, for Antunes, stablecoins are the hot topic in the market today, having already proven their usefulness in the U.S. and Brazil, where most funds moved with crypto leverage them.
Regarding the proposal to ban stablecoin self-custody, as presented in a recent regulatory draft, Antunes stressed he believes in an intermediate approach to their idea. He explained that this might be accomplished by establishing a self-custody wallet list approved by the central bank, allowing it to supervise these funds.
“Releasing them indiscriminately loses the objective of preventing illegal acts,” he concluded.
Read more: Coinbase Opposes Market-Breaking Stablecoin Regulation Proposal in Brazil
