Historical series Itaú Asset creates specific structure for crypto fund management
Initiative is unprecedented among major Brazilian asset managers
São Paulo, September 2025 – Itaú Asset, Brazil’s largest private asset manager, announces the creation of its first dedicated structure for cryptoassets, in yet another strategic move focused on innovation and internationalization.
Economist João Marco Braga da Cunha, who has broad experience with major asset managers, will lead this initiative.
“The cryptoasset segment presents unique characteristics for generating alpha. It’s a relatively new market, offering great opportunities due to its volatility, and is predominantly composed of retail investors. The structure, solidity, and visibility of Itaú Asset make it the perfect environment for developing this initiative and further expanding the offering of secure, quality products for investors,” says João Marco.
Itaú Asset has already offered, since 2022, the ETF BITI11, which tracks the Bloomberg Galaxy Bitcoin Index. Additionally, there is the Itaú Bitcoin Index fund and the Itaú Flexprev bitcoin pension strategy. This entire ecosystem currently manages R$ 850 million in net assets.
With this move, Itaú Asset reinforces its commitment to deliver innovative and customized solutions to clients, offering products that cover the full spectrum of allocations in the financial market. The expectation is that a wide range of crypto products will be created in the future, from options with fixed income–like characteristics to others with high volatility.
“This innovation reflects Itaú Asset’s pioneering spirit and responsibility in leading sector transformations, always with a focus on the client, multidisciplinary expertise, and a deep commitment to the highest standards of governance and risk management,” says Carlos Augusto Salamonde, head of Global Investment Management at Itaú Unibanco. “We see great diversification potential that cryptoassets bring to the traditional asset classes we already offer, and with this development we will continue delivering the same quality, efficiency, and performance our clients already know,” he concludes.
This new crypto-focused team becomes part of the Multimesas (similar to multi-asset) structure, under the leadership of Arlindo Penteado. Currently, there are 15 desks (Macro, Long & Short, Systematic, Equity, and Structured Credit) with more than R$ 117 billion under management, including R$ 16.5 billion from the Global Dinâmico family (Dynamic Global, in Portuguese, a structure which combines the desks into a single fund) and more than 130 investment professionals.