Nubank

Nubank is Latin America's largest digital bank and one of the most consequential fintech companies in the world, serving more than 131 million customers across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia. What began in 2013 as a no-fee credit card has become a full-service financial platform that now reaches more than 60 percent of Brazil's adult population and holds the distinction of being the third-largest financial institution in Mexico by customer count. For Solana, Nubank matters as one of the largest retail distribution pipelines for SOL in the world — the bank launched Solana staking for its Brazilian user base in March 2026 and has offered SOL trading and swaps inside its core app since late 2024.

Origins and Rise

David Vélez, Cristina Junqueira, and Edward Wible founded Nubank in São Paulo on May 6, 2013. Vélez, a Colombian venture capital professional who had spent time at Sequoia Capital, was frustrated by the oligopolistic, fee-heavy nature of Brazilian banking and set out to build a digital-native alternative. The company launched its flagship product — a no-annual-fee Mastercard credit card managed entirely through a mobile app — and discovered immediately that demand far exceeded expectations. A waitlist that swelled into the millions established the model: remove friction, charge no unnecessary fees, and let customers control everything from their phone.

The company expanded steadily from credit cards into checking accounts (NuConta), personal loans, and investment products. By the time it completed its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange in December 2021 at a $45 billion valuation, Nubank had already reshaped the banking landscape of Brazil and was rapidly expanding into Mexico and Colombia under the Nu brand.

Scale and Financial Performance

Nu Holdings, Nubank's parent company, reported full-year 2025 revenue of $16.3 billion, a 45 percent increase year over year, with net income reaching $2.9 billion. The company added 17 million net new customers during 2025, ending the year with 131 million total. Return on equity hit 33 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025, a level that rivals the most profitable banks on any continent. Average revenue per active customer reached $15 per month, up 27 percent year over year, reflecting deeper product penetration rather than simple headcount growth.

In Brazil, where Nubank first launched, the company has surpassed 112 million customers and displaced legacy incumbents to become the largest private-sector financial institution in the country. Nu Mexico exceeded 15 million customers in early 2026.

Products and Services

Nubank operates as a unified financial super-app. Core products include no-fee credit cards, digital checking accounts with Pix integration, payroll-linked lending (Worker's Credit), personal loans, savings and investment products, and business banking for small and medium enterprises through Nu Empresas. In May 2024 the company added travel eSIM services, and in October 2023 it announced an AI-powered credit underwriting partnership with OpenAI. The bank's Fresh Start program, which helped more than six million customers restructure debts, demonstrates a focus on financially underserved populations that has defined Nubank's brand since founding.

Crypto: NuCripto and the Solana Integration

Nubank began building crypto infrastructure in 2022 under the NuCripto brand. The platform now supports approximately 29 digital assets with Bitcoin and Ethereum at the center, but Solana has become a featured asset with two specific integrations that reflect the bank's deliberate selection of SOL for its distribution advantages.

In November 2024 Nubank launched an in-app swap tool enabling customers to exchange Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, or Uniswap tokens directly for USDC. The swap feature, accessible via a "Trocar" button in the NuCripto section of the app, eliminated the need to convert through fiat currency — reducing fees and settlement friction for the bank's tens of millions of mobile-first users. The same release added price alert capabilities for SOL alongside BTC, ETH, and UNI, triggering notifications at 3, 6, or 9 percent price moves within a 24-hour window.

The deeper Solana commitment arrived on March 17, 2026, when Nubank launched "Ganhar Cripto" (Earn Crypto), a staking rewards feature that debuted exclusively with Solana at a promotional 6 percent annual rate. Michael Rihani, Nubank's crypto director, described the goal as demystifying staking for everyday users — allowing customers to "maximize idle digital assets by receiving rewards and increasing their coin holdings over time." The rollout started with a subset of eligible customers and was planned to reach the majority of NuCripto users by May 2026, with additional cryptocurrencies to follow.

NuCripto had accumulated more than seven million active crypto users by early 2026. The platform's stablecoin strategy has also gained traction: in January 2025 Nubank extended a 4 percent annual USDC rewards program to all crypto customers, and 30 percent of NuCripto users hold USDC, which grew tenfold on the platform during 2024. More than 50 percent of new NuCripto users selected USDC as their first digital asset.

Nubank also launched Nucoin, a loyalty token built on the Polygon blockchain, in 2022. The project was discontinued for trading in September 2024, with the company citing a need to protect users from market volatility — a pragmatic exit that highlighted the bank's willingness to pull back features that generate more risk than engagement.

U.S. Expansion

In January 2026 the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted Nubank conditional approval to establish a national bank charter, 121 days after the company filed its application in September 2025. The approval would allow Nubank to offer deposit accounts, credit cards, lending, and digital asset custody services in the United States under a federal framework. The company is building hubs in Miami, the San Francisco Bay Area, Northern Virginia, and the Research Triangle in North Carolina. Final approval requires clearance from the FDIC and the Federal Reserve, with the bank required to open within 18 months of the conditional grant.

Euromoney named Nubank Latin America's Best Digital Bank for 2026, acknowledging 68 percent compound annual revenue growth since its 2021 IPO and the launch of more than 100 new products and features across its markets during the award period.

Significance for Solana

Nubank's selection of Solana as the launch asset for staking — ahead of both Ethereum and Bitcoin in that specific feature — signals meaningful institutional confidence in the network's staking mechanics and tooling. With more than 131 million customers, even modest SOL adoption rates translate to a user base that dwarfs most purpose-built crypto applications. The bank's trajectory — from swap support in late 2024 to staking launch in early 2026, with further crypto assets to follow — points to Solana maintaining a featured position inside the platform that has become the default bank for tens of millions of Latin Americans.