Nubank, the Brazilian neobank backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and Softbank Group Corp, announced new partnerships with cryptocurrency firms Circle and Talos.
These collaborations are part of Nubank’s effort to integrate more crypto services into its offerings, particularly targeting the growing demand in Brazil.
Nubank, one of Latin America’s largest fintech banks, with over 80 million customers in Brazil and expanded presence in Mexico and Colombia, is focusing on improving its digital banking experience. This year, the bank has already added 11 new cryptocurrency options to its platform, Nubank Cripto.
In its first announcement, Nubank revealed a partnership with Circle, known for its stablecoin USDC. The collaboration aims to introduce USDC within the Nubank Cripto app, marking a major step in providing Brazilians with more diverse crypto options. Circle’s CEO highlighted the growing appetite in Brazil for digital currency solutions, with the country increasingly becoming a key player in the regional crypto landscape.
“We continue to see strong demand across Latin America for access to dollars, specifically in Brazil, which has emerged as a driving force for digital currency use and adoption in the region,” said Jeremy Allaire, CEO and Co-Founder, at Circle.
The second announcement involves integrating with Talos, a provider of institutional digital asset trading technology. This partnership is expected to reduce trading costs for Nubank customers when purchasing crypto assets with Brazilian reais.
Through Talos’s extensive network, which includes over 60 cryptocurrency trading partners, Nubank aims to source liquidity both locally and globally, boosting its ability to offer competitive pricing to its users.
With these developments, Nubank continues to build its capacity in the digital banking and cryptocurrency spaces. The bank is also involved to some extent in Brazil’s Digital Real project, and its recent partnerships open up possibilities for further contributions to the initiative.
“The integration of USDC opens up great opportunities not only for customers interested in having this digital dollar in their portfolio. Through this offering and the characteristics of Circle’s USDC, we are considering future possibilities to integrate Nubank Cripto with other financial services available in our app,” says Thomaz Fortes, General Manager of Nubank Cripto.
Earlier in July, Nubank (NUN.MX) formed a partnership with digital asset custody platform Fireblocks to increase its institutional-grade exposure within its blockchain-based product offerings.
By tapping into Fireblocks’ technology, Nubank aims to elevate its existing custody services to an enterprise-grade level, ensuring utmost security and governance standards. The integration will grant Nubank access to Fireblocks’ extensive network, facilitating direct connectivity to liquidity providers.
Nubank’s foray into the digital asset space is noteworthy due to the firm’s reputation for serving more sophisticated clients. The fintech – whose 50 million users make it one of the world’s largest digital banks – debuted on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021 in a listing that floated it as Latin America’s most valuable financial institution, worth $52 billion.
