Brazil's largest bank Itaú Unibanco ($562B assets) tests tokenized bonds and funds on blockchain with OpenAssets under ANBIMA's pilot, advancing institutional digital securities.
Itaú Unibanco, Latin America's largest private bank, has joined a pilot with digital infrastructure provider OpenAssets to test the issuance and settlement of tokenized bonds and investment funds on a blockchain. The trial runs under a program managed by Brazil's Financial and Capital Markets Association (ANBIMA), the companies said.
The pilot uses a closed, permissioned blockchain network in a controlled testing environment. No real financial transactions occur. ANBIMA approved 20 use cases for the experiment in April, selecting them from 39 submissions by more than 50 financial institutions, investment firms, and technology providers. Corporate bonds (debentures) and managed investment products are among the scenarios being evaluated.
Itaú brings significant heft to the initiative. The São Paulo-based bank manages over $562 billion in total assets, according to S&P Global. OpenAssets provides the tokenization technology. The two will build technical demonstrations and assess the regulatory and operational requirements for handling tokenized instruments in an institutional setting.
The pilot is not Itaú's first blockchain foray. The bank participated in Brazil's central bank Drex initiative in 2023, which explored blockchain-based transactions using digital currency and tokenized assets.
Brazil has become a hotbed for tokenized asset development. In July 2025, lending firm VERT Capital said it would tokenize as much as $1 billion of debt and receivables on the XDC Network. Cryptocurrency platform Mercado Bitcoin disclosed plans to tokenize $200 million in assets on the XRP Ledger. In a more unusual application, agricultural producers in Paraná state tokenized a herd of 10 dairy cattle, making the tokens tradable through systems linked to the B3 stock exchange.
Globally, the value of tokenized real-world assets on public blockchains has more than doubled in a year, climbing from roughly $18.9 billion in August 2025 to $38.3 billion now, according to RWA.xyz. U.S. Treasury securities account for the largest slice, at over $16 billion. Tokenized equity products have driven much of the volume – the QQQ token alone accounted for 288% of July volumes on some platforms, as covered in a recent analysis of tokenized equities.
OpenAssets raised $10 million last year to expand its tokenization platform. Valor Capital Group led the round, with participation from Tether and members of Itaú Unibanco's founding family.
“Brazil has demonstrated exceptional innovation in financial services, making it an ideal environment to advance tokenization from conceptual testing to real-world implementation,” said Gabor Gurbacs, chairman and CEO of OpenAssets.
The ANBIMA pilot runs on a closed network with no real money at stake. It establishes a framework for eventual institutional adoption of tokenized securities in Brazil. If the tests succeed, ANBIMA could use the results to draft guidelines for issuance and secondary market trading on regulated exchanges. The controlled environment allows participants to evaluate custody rules, settlement finality, and investor protection without regulatory risk. Itaú's involvement, given its size and previous Drex experience, signals that Brazil's largest financial institutions are preparing for a shift toward on-chain securities.
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