The rapid acceleration of crypto-based services has coincided with traditional institutions’ joining the digital asset movement.
The Brazil-based brokerage firm Rico, a subsidiary of XP Inc., announced its plans to venture into the crypto market soon. Accordingly, the XP division is looking to expand its operations by moving to the banking sector. In addition, it will also launch the digital payment and card services to leverage the expanding market.
Rico follows the likes of Nubank, who have already dipped their hands in the dough. The South American market has become one of the leading crypto hubs in the world in terms of transactions involving digital assets.
Rico Ventures into Crypto and Banking Services
Brazilian corporations and banks are entering the cryptocurrency ecosystem to provide a wide range of investment portfolios through a single platform. Rico has also joined the fray as it looks to expand its business portfolio by offering crypto services.
Furthermore, the company announced its plan to build a cryptosystem on its platform within the coming year. It also wants to enter the insurance space as part of its expansion.
Similarly, the company is looking toward launching a virtual presence with an attached card before the end of 2022.
The new crypto goods will be administered under Rico’s branding but handled by its parent company, Banco XP. The company forecasts offering these goods to about 50% of customers upon release.
Rico Pitches Products to Young Investors
At a time when the focus is on institutional investors with huge investment portfolios, Rico has identified younger players with a yearly income of around $1,000 as its target investors. Pedro Canellas of Rico commented on the company’s interest in the often neglected category of investors.
Canellas noted that the firm seeks to help clients develop sound spending habits. This would make them become major investors. As a result, the company is targeting the part of the population that few companies are not ready to bet on.
Furthermore, Rico believes doubling its customer base by 2025 will positively affect its revenue generation.
Canellas added that one of the platform’s attractions would be integrating credit card use. Credit cards will allow users to pay a part of their funds monthly and will help them continue investing their assets.
Rico is the latest company to offer digital asset services in the country. Others, like Nubank and Picpay, have already begun offering digital asset services on their platforms this year.
Meanwhile, Santander and Itau Unibanco announced they would also offer crypto-based services soon.
As positive as the news seems, not all banks in Brazil are joining the crypto bandwagon.
Due to the industry’s small size, the second-largest bank in Brazil, Bradesco, has revealed it is not looking to offer crypto-related services.
Still, Brazil is shaping up to become the digital asset hub in Latin America, going by the recent happenings.
