Brazil’s Nubank, Latin America’s largest fintech and only decacorn, invests 1% of assets in Bitcoin

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – David Vélez, CEO and co-founder of Nubank, the largest fintech bank in Latin America, was very positive about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in a recent interview with the portal Bloomberg Línea. The senior manager explained that Bitcoin is a good long-term investment despite its high volatility.

The Brazilian decacorn, a venture-backed company with a value exceeding US$10 billion, is expanding its horizons and will start offering the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies to all customers by the end of next month.

In addition, the newly Nasdaq-listed company is now investing in the world’s largest cryptocurrency. Through Nu Holding’s reserves, 1% of its assets were converted into bitcoin last December 24, which was not considered very transparent by experts.

Vélez was asked about the investment by Bloomberg Line and explained that Nubank is betting on future upward movements of the cryptocurrency. “Yes, it is more volatile than the other 99% of our cash. However, we believe it is a good investment in the long term,” the CEO said.

The cryptocurrency has had its ups and downs and is currently even at one of its lows. From May 2017 to May 2021, bitcoin’s price increased by about 2,159%. With a price of US$32,000, bitcoin is about 55% below its historical high, which was reached in 2021, shortly after a similar downward cycle.

As for the use of cryptocurrencies as a form of investment, David Vélez said that the institution had seen a sharp increase in the interest of its clients in this topic in the last two years. In addition, the movement of funds going from their savings accounts to cryptocurrency brokers has also strongly attracted the attention of Nubank.

“It’s a product attracting a lot of interest,” the CEO stressed to Bloomberg Line. “As a company, we are very optimistic about the future of cryptocurrencies, as it is a very disruptive technology for the future of financial services,” he concluded.

Nubank’s cryptocurrency buying and selling service was announced in early May and are available for Bitcoin and Ether investments. The company intends that all of its customers will be able to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ether by the end of June. Currently, only some customers have access, as the service is being made available slowly.

In January, entrepreneur Anita Sands, a member of Nubank’s board of directors, was announced as a new member of Circle’s board of directors. Circle is a payments company specializing in cryptocurrencies and creator of USDC, the second-largest cryptocurrency of stable value after USDT.