Part of XP Inc., a Brazilian brokerage platform called Rico recently announced its plans of establishing itself in the crypto market in the coming year.
The brokerage plans on expanding its operations and will also make its way into the banking sector, as it will introduce credit card and digital account services.
The brokerage is following the path of other companies, such as Nubank, which have already made similar moves and are already established in the crypto space.
Rico’s plans
There are a number of Brazilian banks and companies that are dipping their toes in the crypto market and are doing so by offering a package of services under one umbrella.
The same approach has been taken by Rico, which is already a brokerage platform and is now expanding its portfolio to include other services, including crypto.
The company disclosed that it plans on launching a crypto exchange in the next year and will also make its way into the insurance market.
Furthermore, Rico also shared plans of introducing a digital account that will have a card associated with it.
While Banco XP will operate these products, they will be offered and managed under the brand of Rico. The company plans on offering these products to at least 50% of customers at the time of launch.
Accessibility for young investors
One thing that Rico is doing differently from its competitors is that it has chosen not to cater its services primarily to large investment accounts and institutional investors.
Instead, Rico plans on focusing on young investors in the crypto space, who have an income of $1,000. Rico’s Pedro Canellas said that this group of investors is often overlooked.
He stated that they want to offer healthy consumption to their clients, so they become savers and eventually transition into big investors.
He went on to say that they were going to focus on that part of the population that most do not look at.
Prospects
The company believes that it will be able to expand its user base threefold with these new products by 2025.
Canellas said that one of the features that will be included on the platform would be the ability to use a credit card for investing.
This will enable users to make monthly payments in terms of investment, allowing them to continue investing. It will offer accessibility to average clients of Rico who do not earn more than $2,000.
Rico is the latest company in a series that have added or are in adding crypto services to its portfolio in Brazil.
This year saw Neobanks like Picpay and Nubank also begin offering crypto trading services to their clients.
As a matter of fact, even companies like Itau Unibanco and Santander have announced the addition of services focused on the crypto space.
But, it should be noted that not every bank is eager to jump on the crypto bandwagon in Brazil. Its second-largest bank, Bradesco recently stated that they believe the crypto market is too small.