MercadoPago is one of the largest digital wallets in the country and can facilitate access to cryptos.
Starting this week, MercadoLivre and MercadoPago are allowing their customers in Brazil to buy, store and sell cryptocurrencies on their platforms. The information is from Marcos Galperin, the company’s CEO. In the coming weeks, a larger group of customers will have access to the service, said Tulio Oliveira, vice president, who said the process started with a small group earlier this month.
MercadoPago is one of the largest digital portfolios in the country, that is, it is well known. Thus, the company can attract users who would like to get into cryptocurrencies, but who feel insecure because they don’t know how it works or which companies are trustworthy.
MercadoLibre, the largest market value in Latin America, has been testing operations with cryptocurrencies, in particular bitcoin, for some time now. Last April, it announced the possibility for users in Argentina to pay for properties with bitcoin. Soon after, it announced the purchase of US$ 7.8 million bitcoins to leave in the Treasury. It was the first in the region to publicly announce such an operation, aligning itself with others abroad, such as MicroStrategy and Tesla.
“We took some time studying and learning before deciding to enter the crypto segment. This has transformative potential and will open paths for us”, Tulio Oliveira in an interview with Bloomberg.
The company is offering the cryptocurrency transaction feature, but not the merchandise payment facility. For now, what the company says it wants is to expand the purchase, sale and custody solution to other countries in Latin America.