The digital wallet Mercado Pago, from Latin America‘s e-commerce giant Mercado Libre, starts this week to accept cryptocurrencies, allowing users in Brazil to buy, sell and store digital currencies, according to the company’s CEO Marcos Galperin.
Initially, the new feature will be released to some customers and gradually to all users of the digital wallet. However, it will not yet be possible to use cryptocurrencies to pay for purchases made by Mercado Libre e-commerce platform.
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Mercado Libre‘s debut in the cryptocurrency market marks another step in the company’s strategy to expand its financial services portfolio. “Starting this week in #Brazil the users of @MercadoLivre and @mercadopago will be able to buy, store and sell cryptocurrencies,” Galperin posted on his Twitter account.
In September, Galperin had participated in a $50 million funding round for the Latin American cryptocurrency platform Ripio. In addition, in May Mercado Libre reported the purchase of $7.8 million of bitcoins in its financial results.
In his LinkedIn profile, Tulio Oliveira, country manager of Mercado Pago in Brazil, said that Mercado Pago will be the first Brazilian fintech to offer buying, selling and storing cryptocurrencies from a fee-free digital account. “We will prepare millions of Brazilians for the future of digital money,” he said.
