The OTC bitcoin trading market appears to be attracting big banks and brokers from all over the world who wish to secure a piece of this growing pie for themselves. And the latest company that might create a brokerage specifically for the field is from the largest economy of South America.
Also Read: Barclays Testing the Waters for a Cryptocurrency Trading Desk
XDEX OTC Brokerage
Financial services firm XP Investimentos SA, operating the largest securities brokerage in Brazil, is reportedly working on a new venture in the cryptocurrency trading space. Back in October 2017 news.bitcoin.com reported that the company filed a patent for the brand XP Bitcoin, as its first entry into the cryptocurrency domain. Now the brokerage has been found to be behind a recently registered company, XDEX Intermediacao.
The group has not commented on the development and it is therefore not yet known exactly what services the new brokerage will provide. However, a source who did not want to be identified, told Portal do Bitcoin that the activity of XDEX will be in the over-the-counter market, meaning focused on movements of large volume transactions dealing in fiat and bitcoin.
Besides the significance of XP Investimentos entering the OTC bitcoin space, this can also mean that soon the biggest bank in Brazil will also be directly involved in the cryptocurrency market. Itaú Unibanco Holding SA has recently proposed to buy a 74.9% stake in the financial services firm and a 49.9% stake in XP’s voting capital for about $1.7 billion.
Growing Popularity in Brazil
Bitcoin has been steadily gaining in popularity in Brazil, leading to number of interesting recent examples. Brazilian business and economics students have gotten universities to launch courses about the cryptocurrency, including a Master’s degree program. And the number of bitcoin investors in Brazil has surpassed the total number of individuals registered on the São Paulo Stock Exchange.
Brazil is the economic powerhouse of Latin America with an estimated GDP between $2 and $3 trillion. As such it should not be too difficult for the brokerage to find big investors among the country’s huge population of over 208 million people. As we reported earlier this month, big players in the cryptocurrency space have set up their own private network for global OTC trading, buying and selling billions every month among their little club. And instead of using any system usually employed by traders on Wall Street, they just close massive deals on Skype.
Do you think it’s inevitable that more brokers and banks will enter the bitcoin trading ecosystem? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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