Mercado Libre To Expand Bitcoin Service Over South America

• Mercado Libre looks to expand its crypto trading services across South America.
• The company’s fintech vertical director said the service works with BTC and ETH.
• In December 2021, the company launched its own digital wallet called Mercado Pago.

Following the success of its digital wallet that allows crypto trading in Brazil late last year, Latin America e-commerce giant Mercado Libre looks to expand its crypto services across the region.

In the Spanish newspaper, El País, Osvaldo Gimenez, Mercado Libre’s fintech vertical director revealed that the firm will go beyond Brazil and introduce its crypto trading feature across the region.

We will be expanding in the region the possibility to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies in your account.

“It works with bitcoin, with ethereum and with a stable currency that reflects the value of the dollar,” added Gimenez.

However, the El País article did not specify when or where the Mercado Libre service will be made available outside of Brazil.

In December 2021, Mercado Libre launched Mercado Pago, a digital wallet that enabled the buying and selling of Bitcoin, Ether, and Stablecoin Pax Dollar (USDP) in Brazil following integration with the Paxos blockchain infrastructure.

Two months later, the then-new crypto trading service tallied a 1 million user base record, according to the Spanish publication.

When talking about cryptocurrencies, Gimenez said, “It is an alternative investment opportunity that we find very interesting and generates a lot of interest from users. At a time when the dollar has been appreciating, the investments that users have with us are small and for us, it is one more way to diversify their portfolio.”

In January of this year, the e-commerce company announced an investment in 2TM, the holding firm for Brazil’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Mercado Bitcoin.