Having mixed feelings about it, the biggest independent brokerage in Brazil has officially jumped on the cryptocurrency bandwagon despite its CEO saying he’d prefer it if crypto “didn’t exist.”

‘A Theme I’d Rather Didn’t Exist’

Grupo XP, the parent company of XP Investimentos SA, will be launching a cryptocurrency exchange for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) within the upcoming months according to Chief Executive Officer Guilherme Benchimol.

Speaking at an event in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the high-ranked executive said that roughly around 3 million Brazilians have exposure to the world’s leading cryptocurrency while only around 600,000 invest in stocks. This is what has pushed the company to march into the fairly nascent market. He added:

I must confess, this is a theme I’d rather didn’t exist, but it does. We felt obligated to start advancing in this market.

XDEX, as the new cryptocurrency exchange will be named, will employ around 40 people and will be run by Thiago Maffra.

A Change of Heart

Prior to this week’s announcement, Grupo XP had said that it intends to launch an over-the-counter (OTC) crypto trading venture. Purportedly, this was the first foray of the brokerage into the field, after having registered an outfit called XP COIN INTERMEDIACAO back in August 2017.

It’s also worth noting that the country’s Antitrust Agency launched a probe into major banks for alleged monopolistic practices in the field of cryptocurrencies.

As reported by Reuters, the agency outlined that:

…illicit activities should be avoided and banks should take restrictive measures when there are indications of crimes committed by their account holders… However, it does not seem reasonable for banks to apply restrictive measures a priori on a straight-line basis to all crypto-currency companies, without examining the level of compliance and anti-fraud measures adopted by individual brokerage firms…

What do you think of Grupo XP’s move towards the field of cryptocurrencies? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!

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