Itau Unibanco BRL Stablecoin (BRL-ITAU) pre-launch stablecoin tracker

Itau Unibanco, Brazil's largest private bank by assets, confirmed in April 2025 that it was evaluating its own stablecoin; Head of Digital Assets Guto Antunes told a Sao Paulo industry event the bank is 'always open to understanding whether it makes sense for our clients to have a stablecoin, even one in real, within Itau'. That remains the extent of the public commitment. Brazil's virtual-asset framework, finalised as BCB Resolutions 519 to 521, took effect on February 2, 2026, and Resolution 561, effective October 1, 2026, bars virtual assets in payments or receipts between an eFX provider and its foreign counterparty. Neither produced an Itau decision. In August 2026 Antunes argued that stablecoins and tokenized deposits must coexist, and in September he described the bank as closely tracking stablecoins as potential payment enablers, with no issuance decision, peg choice, ticker or date. The Drex wholesale pilot, which gave Itau distribution-rail experience, has ended. Pharos tracks the placeholder as BRL-denominated because Brazil's retail base makes a real-denominated first launch the more likely design, though a USD option has not been ruled out, and Pharos removed its 2026 launch expectation in September. The rules Itau was waiting on are in force; the remaining constraint is the bank's own product decision.