Top Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual launches crypto trading app

Initially supporting BTC and ETH only, BTG Pactual’s new crypto trading platform plans to allow its users to trade a wide range of altcoins.

Leading Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual has launched a new platform enabling customers to make direct investments in cryptocurrencies.

The bank’s Mynt platform currently allows users to purchase Bitcoin and Ether, with BTG Pactual expressing its intention to launch support for additional crypto assets in the future. Andre Porthilo, BTG Pactual’s head of digital assets, stated:

“At this first moment, we will have the two main assets of the market, but we will include other cryptos for trading over time. We will have a complete platform with blockchain-based assets.”

BTG Pactual CEO, Roberto Sallouti, described Mynt’s creation as being in response to “demand from our customers who wish to trade crypto.”

Sallouti added that Mynt plans to host education content designed to inform new users about cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, stating: “As a new asset class, we will also have content to educate and inform our customers about these assets and the technology.”

According to local news outlet The Rio Times, Mynt’s launch makes BTC Pactual the first major Brazilian financial institution to allow its customers to “participate directly” in the crypto asset markets.

Porthilo asserted that the bank’s status as being regulated by both the Brazilian Securities Commission and local central bank will lend credibility to the country’s burgeoning crypto sector.

“With the support of BTG Pactual, Mynt has fundamental differentials in security and credibility [—] characteristics that are fundamental in a new category of investments with which most people [are] not yet used to,” he added.

Related: Visa reportedly aims to integrate Bitcoin payments in Brazil

Mynt is not BTG Pactual’s first foray into the crypto sector, with the bank launching its real estate-backed security token ReitBZ in 2019 after spending a couple of years examining digital assets.

In April of this year, BTG Pactual also became the first Brazilian investment bank to launch a crypto fund after unveiling its Bitcoin 20 Multi-Market Investment Fund.