Brazil’s Stock Exchange B3 to Get Into Crypto Market Next Year

Brazil’s only stock exchange, B3, plans to enter the crypto market next year, InfoMoney reported. It's also considering services to facilitate over-the-counter (OTC) trading and access to liquidity centers and expects to launch a crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF). However, it did not establish which index a potential ETF would replicate.

B3 to Enter the Crypto Market

According to a Dec. 10 presentation from B3 President Gilson Finkelsztain, Brazil’s stock exchange B3 is looking to explore asset tokenization, digital asset custody, and crypto-as-a-service (CaaS) segments.

B3 listed the first bitcoin ETF in Latin America. The fund was created by blockchain investment firm QR Capital, in June. The firm also listed an ether ETF on the same exchange.

“It is natural for us to expand into the unregulated world of cryptocurrencies,” said Finkelsztain, adding that B3 is not planning to be a crypto exchange but to provide services to crypto traders.

In October, Brazil’s Central Bank said that B3 could serve as the blockchain as the information oracle for the smart contract system of a digital real (CBDC). However, Luís Kondic, director of listed products and data at B3, said at the time it’s too early to evaluate the participants’ roles in the new financial structure that the central bank is promoting.

Brazilians Gears for Crypto Adoption

In September 2020, Brazil’s chief central banker, Roberto Campos Neto, said that Brazil could be ready for a central digital currency by next year. In June, the central bank said that the timeline depends on the evolution of the bank’s current projects and the international environment.

In July, the director of the BCB, João Manoel Pinho de Mello, said that a “significant migration” from paper currency to digital payments will take place in the next few years and will involve the use of central bank digital currencies.

Brazilian companies have launched five cryptos ETFs. Crypto asset manager Hashdex has launched three of these products, while fintech company QR Capital has released the remaining two.