Largest Bank in Brazil Moves to Invest in Bitcoin Mining

Itau Unibanco, through its VC arm Itau Ventures, has made an undisclosed investment in Minter, a company that installs mobile data centers and bitcoin mining operations across Brazil. Minter’s approach allows it to take advantage of surplus energy that would otherwise be wasted.

Key Takeaways:

• Itau Ventures invested up to $10M in Minter for mobile data centers that mine bitcoin.
• Brazil lost $1.2B to 20% energy curtailment in 2025, a market Minter targets.
• CEO Stefano Sergole plans to grow Minter to 500MW capacity by 2029 across Brazil and the U.S.

Brazil’s Itau Invests In Bitcoin and Data Center Company Minter

Itau, one of the largest banks in Brazil, has turned its gaze on bitcoin mining and data centers.

According to local media, Itau Ventures, the bank’s investment arm, has made an undisclosed investment in Minter. This company seeks to solve one of the largest problems in green energy installations: curtailment.

Minter takes hardware that is normally confined to a fixed location and combines it with mobile containers, turning these activities into initiatives that can be executed directly where renewables are generated.

The investment, reaching up to $10 million, positions Minter as an alternative for all energy producers seeking to leverage energy that would be wasted or not produced, backed by Itau’s name.

“The Itaú seal helps encourage energy generators to feel comfortable opening their minds to the fact that a flexible data center within the parks can be a portfolio strategy,” said Stefano Sergole, CEO and founder of Minter.

While the company is serving one customer at the moment, Sergole estimates that by the end of this year, Minter could reach 40MW capacity in its operations, with the number climbing to 500MW by 2029.

With Itau’s backing, Minter aims to expand in Brazil and the U.S. In 2025, Brazil curtailed 20% of its solar and wind energy output, with $1.2 billion in losses. In the U.S., Amperon estimated that curtailment hit 20M MWh in 2024 and declared that the phenomenon was “exploding.”

This makes Minter, as a mobile service provider of data center and bitcoin mining hardware, face an addressable market of billions of dollars, aiming to turn this unused energy into valuable products, like bitcoin.

“For our flexible model, it has been more profitable to position ourselves in bitcoin mining,” said Sergole, highlighting the relevance of crypto and bitcoin for Minter’s business model.

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