Mercado Libre announced the launch of a dollar-pegged stablecoin in Brazil. Users of the Mercado Pago app can already buy the asset with the Brazilian real.
Mercado Libre, an operator of the largest e-commerce platform in Latin America, announced the release of Meli Dólar, a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar. This was reported by Forbes Argentina. The project was developed by Mercado Pago, the financial division of Mercado Libre, together with crypto exchange Ripio, the biggest among similar platforms in Latin America.
Transactions with Meli Dólar are available to users of the Mercado Pago app from Brazil. They can buy the new stablecoin with the Brazilian real. The platform won’t charge any fees for the intermediation of transactions to buy and sell the asset. The issuer of the new stablecoin is Meli Uruguay SRL, part of the Mercado Libre group. The market maker providing liquidity to Meli Dólar is crypto exchange Ripio, in which Marcos Galperin, Founder and CEO of Mercado Libre, invested personal funds in 2021.
Mercado Libre only began to venture into the digital asset market in 2021, when users of the platform were able to pay for purchases with BTC and other cryptocurrencies. That same year, the company added Bitcoin to its own assets. A year later, cryptocurrency Mercado Coin was released, used in the Mercado Libre ecosystem as an element of the loyalty program.
The launch of the new stablecoin will allow companies to scale financial products and services, democratize access to crypto-based products, and promote innovation and financial development among users. This opinion was expressed by Andre Chaves, Senior VP of Mercado Pago. Sebastian Serrano, CEO and Co-Founder of Ripio, added that Meli Dólar will allow users to protect their savings in the face of economic instability and strengthen their trust in the digital environment.
In 2024, analysts recorded a significant growth in crypto trading volumes in Brazil, which increased by 30% and reached $6 billion. Thanks to this, the country consolidated its status as the largest cryptocurrency market in Latin America.
