Latin America’s largest bank Itaú Unibanco is warning that a rapid shift from bank deposits into stablecoins could disrupt credit creation in Brazil, echoing concerns that have become central to the debate between US banks and the crypto industry over landmark digital asset legislation.
Speaking at Blockchain.RIO 2026 conference, Guto Antunes, head of Itaú Digital Assets, said economies heavily dependent on bank credit could face unintended consequences if stablecoins replace traditional deposits too quickly.
“The Brazilian economy is very dependent on credit, and that involves the banking multiplier, demand deposits,” Antunes said. “If we migrate everything 100% to the world of stablecoins, we could have a crash within what has been established.”
Bank’s stake
The comments come from a bank with a significant stake in the outcome. Itaú, Latin America’s largest private lender, serves about 70mn customers and held roughly R$3.2tn ($618bn) in total assets at the end of the first quarter, making customer deposits one of the main sources of funding for its lending business. Its total funding stood at R$1.67tn ($320bn), including deposits, securities and borrowings.
But Antunes stopped short of portraying stablecoins as a threat to banks. Instead, he argued that stablecoins, tokenized deposits and traditional bank deposits each have distinct roles within the financial system, and that problems arise only if one attempts to replace the others too quickly.
“This is not the fault of banks, it is not the fault of the stablecoin, of the tokenized deposit,” Antunes said. “This is how our economy has grown over the past years and what it is based on. So you can’t give a radical shock to what has been built.”
Itaú has been expanding its digital assets business. After developing its own crypto custody infrastructure, the bank launched retail cryptocurrency trading in 2023 and has since expanded the platform to include more than a dozen digital assets. It has also become increasingly involved in tokenization, participating in an industry-led pilot testing blockchain-based issuance, transfers and settlement of capital-market assets.
US debate
Antunes’ argument touches on one of the main points of friction in Washington around the CLARITY Act, legislation that would establish a broader regulatory framework for digital assets in the US.
US banking groups have opposed provisions that would allow crypto firms to offer rewards on stablecoin balances, arguing that attractive returns could encourage customers to move money out of bank deposits, reducing a key source of funding for loans. The crypto industry has countered that such restrictions would protect incumbent banks from competition rather than address financial stability concerns.
The Senate ultimately sought a compromise by prohibiting rewards simply for holding stablecoins while allowing incentives tied to transactions and other activity. The dispute nevertheless dragged negotiations on for months and remains one of the bill’s most sensitive issues as lawmakers prepare to revisit the legislation after the August recess.
Perhaps mindful of the either-or debate going on in Washington, Antunes cautioned against turning the discussion into a choice between banks and stablecoins.
“We have to be a little careful with radicalism at this moment, not to get too caught up in the thesis of which one is better, one or the other,” he said, “and forget that the hole is much deeper here in our banking infrastructure, our economic infrastructure.”
Additional reporting by Danyella Colares
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