Brazil brokerage giant with 3.6M clients launches BTC and ETH trading

Brazilian brokerage giant XP Inc has officially launched its crypto trading platform ‘XTAGE’ in Brazil, bringing a potential 3.6 million users to the crypto markets. 

The news was broke in an Aug. 15 post by the Nasdaq Exchange Twitter account, noting that XP had rung the exchange’s “Opening Bell” to celebrate the launch of the XTAGE digital assets trading platform.

.@xpinvestimentos joins us for the Opening Bell to celebrate the XTAGE digital assets trading platform.

Leveraging @NasdaqExchange’s technology, XTAGE represents a key milestone in democratizing access to the digital assets market in Brazil. pic.twitter.com/DS3RXtWVpb

— Nasdaq Exchange (@NasdaqExchange) August 15, 2022

Initially, XP Inc’s 3.6 million clients will have access to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) trading, but the broker told Cointelegraph back in May there were plans to “support other digital assets and investment products based on crypto assets in the future.”

Developed in partnership with major American stock exchange Nasdaq and crypto custody firm BitGo, XTAGE is fully integrated into the XP ecosystem, allowing users to make crypto trades on its existing app. 

However, XP Director of Financial Products, Lucas Rabechini told Reuters in a July interview only clients with an “adequate investment profile for such operations” will be allowed into the XTAGE platform.

Built on Nasdaq’s trading technology, XTAGE also has integration with MetaTrade 5, a forex and stock trading tool.

Crypto custody firm BitGo is set to act as custodian, storing most of XTAGE’s assets in cold wallets not connected to the internet.

Brazil competitors

XP Inc is just the latest Brazilian fintech player to offer crypto trading services, following in the footsteps of Nubank and MercadoLibre.

Related: Brazilian payment app PicPay launches crypto exchange with Paxos

Nubank, the largest digital bank in Brazil and Latin America, announced a partnership with Paxos in May of this year.

Following the announcement, customers were able to start buying, selling, and storing cryptocurrencies directly through Nubank.

While MercadoPago, the fintech arm of MercadoLibre, announced their Brazilian customers could buy, sell and hold BTC, ETH, and U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin Pax Dollar (USDP) in December of 2021.