Itaú joins Brazil tokenization pilot with OpenAssets

Itaú, Latin America’s largest private sector bank, has partnered with digital asset infrastructure provider OpenAssets to participate in an industry-led pilot testing the tokenization of fixed-income securities and investment funds in Brazil.

The initiative is led by the Brazilian Financial and Capital Markets Association (ANBIMA), which is testing the issuance, trading and settlement of capital markets instruments using distributed ledger technology (DLT).

According to Tuesday’s announcement, the companies will develop technical proofs of concept and assess the operational, compliance and technology requirements for tokenized assets, with debentures and investment funds among the use cases being explored.

OpenAssets will provide its tokenization infrastructure, while Itaú will contribute capital markets expertise as the companies test how tokenized assets could operate within institutional frameworks.

In April, ANBIMA selected 20 use cases for the pilot from 39 proposals submitted by more than 50 banks, asset managers and technology companies. The tests are being conducted on a private, permissioned DLT network in a simulated environment without real financial transactions.

The value of tokenized real-world assets distributed on public blockchains has more than doubled over the past year, rising from around $18.9 billion in August 2025 to $38.3 billion today, according to RWA.xyz data. US Treasury debt is the largest category, accounting for more than $16 billion.