Brazil's Crypto Exchange Mercado Bitcoin Earns a Lot of Dough

Mercado Bitcoin – which means “Bitcoin Market” in English – is a Latin American cryptocurrency trading platform based in Brazil. Through a Series B funding round, the company managed to garner a whopping $200 million in additional funds through the SoftBank Latin America Fund, suggesting the growing presence of bitcoin and cryptocurrency in Latin American regions.

Mercado Bitcoin Is at the Top of Its Game

At the time of writing, the parent company of Mercado Bitcoin – known as 2TM Group – is worth more than $2 billion, making it one of the top ten companies in the area. Mercado Bitcoin had completed its initial Series A funding round in January of this year. That event featured the presence and assistance of several leading financial firms including Fear Ventures, Evora and Genial, and JPMorgan.

Founded in 2013 by two brothers known as Gustavo and Mauricio Chamati, Mercado Bitcoin is the first exchange ever to be stationed in Brazil. Over the last five months, the company saw approximately 700,000 new customers sign up for its services. Trading volume also surged beyond the $5 billion mark, which is about 11 times higher than the numbers it witnessed during the previous year.

Roberto Dagnoni – the executive chairman and CEO of 2TM Group – stated in an interview:

This makes us a somewhat unique case in the ecosystem and among our fintech peers in general. Few companies have managed to reconcile over 100 percent year-over-year growth with a positive bottom line.

Mercado Bitcoin is not the only enterprise owned by 2TM, though Dagnoni commented that it was by far the most profitable. Among the other firms governed and owned by 2TM include multi-asset wallet company Meubank; crypto custody firm Bitrust, and equity crowdfunding platform Clearbook.

Dagnoni continued with:

We have also tokenized or distributed private debt, carbon credits and a variety of utility and defi tokens. There is a lot more to come, and the Series B round will be a relevant factor in supporting continuous innovation.

As it stands, Mercado Bitcoin employs approximately 500 people, though it hopes that with this new round of funds entering its bank account, it can hire an additional 200 heads. The enterprise has also stated it will use this money to expand its “service offerings” and build its infrastructure to ensure more customers can jump on board. Mercado Bitcoin is also looking to branch out into several other Latin American nations including Argentina, Colombia, and Chile.

Why Do So Many People Flock to BTC?

Discussing what he thinks is driving so many citizens to bitcoin, Dagnoni explained:

Millions of people around the world are realizing that digital assets and cryptocurrencies are both innovative in their technological foundations and are efficient in storing value, and Brazil is no exception to this trend… Crypto is taking advantage of this trend, which is also on display for other asset classes such as VC and private equity.

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