Banks Embrace Blockchain Ahead of Brazil Digital Currency Launch

Brazil’s biggest lenders are getting behind the country’s central bank as it prepares to launch a digital version of the nation’s currency.

Itau Unibanco, BTG Pactual and Santander Brasil are all ramping up headcount and adding resources in preparation of the nationwide rollout of the digital Brazilian real, called the Drex. The accompanying blockchain platform will boost the market for digital assets in Latin America’s largest economy, the banks say.

The Drex marks the latest embrace of digital assets by central bank chief Roberto Campos Neto, who has backed the technology even as many of his peers have ...