Itaú Unibanco, Latin America's largest bank by total assets, is deepening its involvement in blockchain-based finance through a new tokenization pilot conducted in partnership with digital-asset infrastructure provider OpenAssets. The initiative is being overseen by the Brazilian Financial and Capital Markets Association (ANBIMA), the self-regulatory organization that sets industry standards for Brazil's securities and fund markets, and was announced by the companies on Tuesday.

The pilot program will test how fixed-income securities and investment funds can be issued, traded, and settled using distributed-ledger technology. According to a press release, the project will also examine the regulatory rules and technical standards required for banks and asset managers to adopt such systems at scale. ANBIMA's oversight indicates the pilot is intended to inform industry-wide standards, not merely test isolated technology.

Itaú's participation brings significant institutional weight to the effort. The São Paulo-based lender holds more than $562 billion in total assets, making it the largest bank in Latin America, according to S&P Global. The bank's move mirrors a broader push by major global financial institutions into tokenization, with firms such as JPMorgan, HSBC, and BlackRock each advancing their own blockchain-based settlement and fund-initiative projects.

Tokenization — the process of representing traditional financial assets such as bonds, funds, private credit, and equities on blockchain-based ledgers — has attracted growing interest from global banks and asset managers. Citi has estimated that the tokenized securities market could expand to $5.5 trillion by 2030 as financial assets migrate onto blockchain-based systems, CoinDesk previously reported.

Brazil's Growing Tokenization Ecosystem

Brazil has positioned itself as a key testing ground for tokenized financial assets under regulated structures, with initiatives extending well beyond bank-run pilots. The country's regulatory authorities, including the Securities and Exchange Commission of Brazil (CVM), have been developing frameworks for digital assets, while the central bank's instant payment system PIX — launched in 2020 and now used by tens of millions of Brazilians — reflects a broader national embrace of digital financial infrastructure. In July 2025, Brazilian credit structuring and securitization firm VERT Capital announced plans to tokenize up to $1 billion in debt and receivables on the XDC Network, CoinDesk reported. Brazil-based cryptocurrency exchange Mercado Bitcoin also disclosed plans to tokenize $200 million in assets — including fixed-income and equity instruments — on the XRP Ledger.

In a more unconventional application, tokenization recently reached Brazil's agricultural sector. Farmers in the state of Paraná, who had difficulty securing traditional bank loans, tokenized 10 dairy cows and offered the tokens for trading through infrastructure connected to Brazil's B3 stock exchange.

Itaú's Prior Tokenization Experience

The ANBIMA-led initiative is not Itaú's first engagement with tokenization. The bank was among the institutions selected by Brazil's central bank in 2023 to participate in the Drex pilot, which tested blockchain-based transactions involving tokenized money and assets, according to the central bank. Drex is Brazil's central bank digital currency project, designed to provide settlement infrastructure for tokenized financial instruments on a permissioned distributed ledger.

OpenAssets Background and Funding

OpenAssets, the infrastructure provider partnering with Itaú, raised $10 million last year to build tokenization infrastructure, according to a press release. The funding round was led by Valor Capital Group, a venture firm focused on Latin America. Participating investors included Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, and members of the founding family of Itaú Unibanco.

Gabor Gurbacs, chairman and CEO of OpenAssets, emphasized Brazil's role in advancing the technology. "Brazil has been one of the most forward-looking markets in finance and it is a natural place to move tokenization from exploration to production," he said.