Itaú Partners With OpenAssets for Debenture and Fund Tokenisation Trials Under ANBIMA
Key points
- Itaú and OpenAssets are conducting tokenisation trials under ANBIMA, with initial work focused on a proof of concept for debenture and investment fund lifecycles.
- OpenAssets is backed by Tether and Valor Capital; CEO Gabor Gurbacs advises Tether's Hadron tokenisation platform.
- OpenAssets recently launched a pilot with Partior, the tokenised payments firm co-founded by DBS Bank, J.P. Morgan, and Temasek, also a Valor Capital portfolio company.
- Itaú tokenised trade finance receivables in 2022, ran a DREX pilot group, and is one of 17 banks in Swift's cross-border tokenisation solution.
- ANBIMA's tokenisation trials were originally tied to the DREX programme, but the current DREX iteration has moved away from tokenisation, making institution-led pilots the more active frontier.
Brazil’s largest bank, Itaú, has entered a partnership with startup OpenAssets to conduct tokenisation trials under the Brazilian Financial and Capital Markets Association (ANBIMA). The initial scope is a proof of concept covering the lifecycle of debentures and investment funds, alongside advisory work on tokenisation architecture and compliance frameworks. ANBIMA originally launched these trials as part of the central bank’s DREX programme, though the current version of DREX has moved away from tokenisation.
OpenAssets carries notable backing: Tether and the US/Brazilian venture firm Valor Capital are investors, and CEO Gabor Gurbacs also serves as an advisor to Tether’s tokenisation platform, Hadron. The startup recently initiated a pilot with Partior, a tokenised payment firm founded by DBS Bank, J.P. Morgan, and Temasek, which is also backed by Valor Capital. That constellation of relationships places OpenAssets at an intersection of stablecoin infrastructure, institutional payment rails, and now traditional Brazilian fixed-income instruments.
Itaú brings a material track record to the arrangement. The bank tokenised trade finance receivables as far back as 2022, participated in one of the DREX pilot groups, and is among the initial 17 banks involved in Swift’s tokenisation solution for cross-border payments. Its involvement here suggests that Brazilian capital market infrastructure is progressing from regulatory sandbox experimentation toward institution-led proofs of concept across specific asset classes.
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