CZ, founder of Binance.
Binance is buying broker Sim;paul Investimentos. The startup has permission to operate in the country. Thus, the cryptocurrency exchange will have a local arm that operates within local regulations. The company is the largest in crypto transactions in Brazil, but has already had its product offering suspended by the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM). The operation needs approval from both the commission and the Central Bank (BC).
Sim;paul arrived on the market about two years ago and by the hands of professionals who passed through the financial sector. It was intended to be a simpler form of investment for clients. But, over time, he stated that strong competitors entered his market. Thus, a month ago it announced the sale of its client portfolio, with approximately R$1.2 billion of assets under custody to the Guide platform. The profile of these clients was wealth management, that is, with high income or wealth.
In an interview with Valor in August 2021, Sim;paul stated that the platform’s new ambition was to serve as an incubator for wealth managers. In this way, it would offer the technological framework it built for transactional or fiduciary services. The goal was to have 50 partnerships by the end of 2022.
The companies did not provide details of the transaction or the current size of Sim;paul. According to Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, the CZ, in a statement, “in a rapidly developing market like Brazil, the blockchain ecosystem, which includes but is not limited to cryptocurrencies.”
The approximation between traditional investments and cryptocurrencies only advances. Last May, 2TM itself, the holding of Mercado Bitcoin, announced the purchase of asset manager ParMais in addition to becoming a minority shareholder by convertible debt of FIDD Group which performs administration, controllership, custody and distribution of funds.
Thus, these companies create an ecosystem in which they can offer a wider range of investments to customers, who can build a portfolio that is partly traditional, partly in cryptocurrencies. In addition, they approach the regulated world, which can be a benefit in the relationship with regulators.
In Brazil, in July 2020, the CVM determined that the company should stop offering cryptocurrency derivatives to customers in the country because it does not have local authorization to do so. And last Wednesday (14), Ricardo Da Ros, the company’s director for Brazil, announced that he left Binance after six months in office. “There was a misalignment of expectations about my role and I made the decision according to my personal values.”