BTG Pactual Raises Its Méliuz Stake to 10.51% in New Filing

Brazil · Business

The bank calls it a purely financial move. Yet the growing bet lands just as the fintech’s Bitcoin-heavy treasury tipped it into a quarterly loss.

BTG Pactual has raised its stake in Méliuz to 10.51%. Lifting its direct holding to roughly 10.96 million ordinary shares in the Brazilian cashback fintech.

The disclosure, filed on 13 August 2026. Marks a clear increase from the bank’s previously reported 6.71% and comes just as the company’s Bitcoin-heavy treasury pushed it to a quarterly loss.

What BTG Pactual Just Disclosed

On the evening of 13 August 2026. Méliuz told the market that Banco BTG Pactual and its subsidiaries had lifted their combined holding to about 10,961,592 ordinary shares.

That works out to 10.51% of the fintech’s stock, so the bank has quietly become one of its largest shareholders. Because Brazilian rules require investors to flag every big move across ownership thresholds.

BTG had to file the notice as soon as it crossed the line. As a result, the disclosure offers a rare, precise snapshot of exactly how far the bank has gone.

The filing also confirmed that BTG holds no controlling position. Instead, it sits as a large minority investor, one whose intentions the market is now trying to read.

How Big the Méliuz Stake Now Is

The headline number is a jump. Before this move, BTG had reported 6,987,120 shares, or about 6.71% of Méliuz.

So the new 10.51% represents a meaningful step up in a single filing. In plain terms, the bank added close to four million shares to reach the new level.

For a company whose share price has swung sharply over the past year. That is a sizeable vote of confidence, or at least a sizeable trade.

Still, the exact size of BTG’s economic interest is not as simple as one percentage. The bank has repeatedly adjusted its position through 2025 and 2026 as Méliuz issued new shares to fund its Bitcoin purchases.

So the disclosed figure has shifted more than once.

Why BTG Says It Is Buying

In the filing, BTG stuck to careful, familiar language. It described the purchase as the mere carrying out of financial operations.

And it insisted it has no intention of changing the company’s control or management. The bank also said it is not chasing any specific ownership target.

In other words, this is framed as a trading and investment position rather than the opening shot in a takeover. That wording matters, because it tells other shareholders not to expect BTG to push for board seats or strategy changes.

For now, at least, the bank presents itself as a financial investor, not an activist one.

What Méliuz Actually Does

At its core, Méliuz is a cashback company. When you shop through its app or website at partner stores, you get a slice of your spending back as money.

And the retailer pays Méliuz a commission for sending the sale. Over time the fintech has widened that model into a broader digital wallet.

It offers a credit card, a digital account and shopping tools. All designed to keep users inside its app and earning rewards as they spend.

Listed in Sao Paulo under the ticker CASH3, Méliuz built its name on this simple loyalty loop. For example, a shopper might earn a few reais back on an online purchase.

Then let those rewards pile up inside the account.

The Bitcoin Treasury Experiment

What turned Méliuz into a market talking point was not cashback but Bitcoin. In May 2025 shareholders approved a change to the company’s corporate purpose so it could hold the cryptocurrency.

Making it Brazil’s first publicly traded Bitcoin treasury company. The idea is straightforward, even if the strategy is bold.

Instead of parking spare cash only in reais, the company converts part of it into Bitcoin. Betting the asset will hold value better over the long run and draw crypto-minded investors to the stock.

By the end of the second quarter of 2026, Méliuz reported holding 604.7 Bitcoin, bought for a total of about US$81.6 million. That makes the humble cashback app one of the most closely watched corporate crypto holders in Latin America.

A Rough Second Quarter

The timing of BTG’s move is striking, because it came right after a disappointing set of results. Méliuz reported a net loss of R$22.46 million for the second quarter of 2026, a sharp reversal from profit a year earlier.

The main culprit was the very strategy that made the company famous. A R$32.1 million write-down on its Bitcoin holdings dragged the bottom line into the red.

Since accounting rules force firms to mark the asset down when its price falls. Even so, the company stressed that the write-down did not drain any cash.

It is an accounting charge on paper. Yet it still spooked some investors and helped push the shares lower before BTG stepped in.

The Role of Derivatives

The share stake is only part of the story. In the same filing, BTG disclosed that it also holds derivatives settled purely in cash and tied to Méliuz shares.

Giving it a short exposure of roughly 8.48 million shares. A short position effectively bets against, or hedges, part of the price.

So while BTG owns a large slice of the stock outright. These instruments partly offset that bet, which is common when a bank trades around client positions.

Because of this mix, the bank’s headline 10.51% does not translate neatly into a one-way wager on Méliuz rising. Instead, it reflects a layered book of shares and hedges that a big investment bank routinely runs.

A Position That Keeps Shifting

This is not the first time BTG has surfaced on Méliuz’s shareholder register. The bank first crossed the 5% threshold back in April 2025.

And it has filed several updates since as its holding rose and fell. Earlier in 2026, reports put BTG’s direct-share position higher still, before new share issuance and trading reshaped the picture.

That is why the percentages quoted at different dates do not always line up cleanly. The clearest, best-documented figure right now is the 13 August disclosure of 10.51%.

Anyone tracking the bank’s true exposure has to read each filing on its own terms. Since the numbers move as Méliuz prints new shares and BTG adjusts its book.

What It Means for Méliuz Shareholders

For ordinary investors, a respected bank building a double-digit stake can read two ways. On one hand, it can signal that sophisticated buyers see value at current prices, which some take as reassurance.

On the other hand, because BTG frames the move as purely financial and pairs it with hedges. It is not a straightforward endorsement of the Bitcoin strategy.

The bank may simply be trading the volatility rather than backing the long-term plan. Either way, a large, active shareholder tends to add liquidity and scrutiny to a stock.

For a company as debated as Méliuz. More institutional attention can cut both ways as the share price reacts to every Bitcoin swing.

What to Watch Next

The obvious thing to follow is whether BTG keeps buying. Since Brazilian rules force disclosure at each threshold, any further move above the current level would have to be flagged.

Giving the market a fresh read on the bank’s intentions. The second is Bitcoin itself.

Because Méliuz now lives and dies partly by the cryptocurrency’s price, another sharp drop could mean more write-downs. While a rally could just as quickly restore the shine to its treasury bet.

Overall. The story sits at the crossroads of two Brazilian trends: the rise of app-based fintech and the spread of corporate crypto holdings.

How BTG plays its Méliuz hand from here will be a small but telling test of both.

Frequently Asked Questions

How big is BTG Pactual’s stake in Méliuz now?

BTG Pactual and its subsidiaries hold about 10.96 million ordinary shares, equal to 10.51% of Méliuz, up from roughly 6.71% previously disclosed.

Why is BTG Pactual buying Méliuz shares?

BTG says the move is purely for financial operations. With no intention of changing the company’s control or management and no specific ownership target.

What does Méliuz do?

Méliuz is a Brazilian cashback fintech that pays users money back when they shop at partner stores. And it also runs a digital account, a card and, since 2025, a Bitcoin treasury.

Why did Méliuz post a loss in the second quarter of 2026?

It reported a R$22.46 million net loss, driven mainly by a R$32.1 million accounting write-down on its Bitcoin holdings. A charge that did not affect its cash.

Sources: Sources: Méliuz investor relations filing (comunicado ao mercado, 13 August 2026); Méliuz Q2 2026 earnings release; Investidor10; SpaceMoney; Reuters.

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