Largest Brazilian Brokerage to Launch Exchange for Bitcoin and Ethereum Soon

Brazil’s biggest brokerage is set to enter the crypto space by launching its Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) exchange soon, Bloomberg reported last week.

CEO of Grupo XP Guilherme Benchimol disclosed to Bloomberg that his firm will launch a trade called XDEX in the coming months, with around forty workers. Grupo XP is the biggest financial group in Brazil, with multiple units in diverse sectors of the Brazilian economy.

XP is said to have set aside $1 trillion reais ($245 billion) for its crypto unit by 2020, which is four times what the organization hopes to raise before the end of 2018.  The company also intends to get into the banking industry with the launch of its own bank slated in the next few months.

Benchimol admitted that he wished the subject of cryptos never came up in their investment plans; however he said that they “felt obligated to start advancing in this market.” He said his firm is being pushed into the crypto business due to the popularity of cryptocurrencies with investors.  Available data suggests that more than three million Brazilians “have exposure” to Bitcoin, compared to just 600,000 that put resources into stock markets.

At first, Grupo XP reported that it intended to dispatch an over-encounter (OTC) BTC trade in April. The move was apparently the first for XP, which originally registered an outfit called XP COIN INTERMEDIACAO in August 2017. Soon thereafter, following a 5 million reais (about $1.5 million) capital injection, the organization rebranded to become XDEX.

In another development, Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) has launched an investigation into six major banks in the country with respect to allegations of monopoly in the crypto space.

The CADE report said that “the main banks are imposing restrictions or even prohibiting … access to the financial system by cryptocurrency brokerages.” The banks for their part responded that the dealers’ accounts were shut down due to lack of sufficient customer information.