Mercado Pago Introduces Crypto Services in Brazil
Mercadolibre’s digital payments firm, Mercado Pago recently announced that it will now be expanding the range of cryptocurrency services it offers in Brazil. Customers will now be able to use their crypto wallets as well as third-party services for depositing their cryptocurrencies into their digital wallets without having to worry about additional costs.
Crypto deposits made easier
One of the biggest e-tailers in Latin America is Mercadolibre and its payments processing service is known as Mercado Pago. Last year in November, the payments’ service had begun to offer Brazilian customers cryptocurrency services and now it has announced that it will be adding to its offerings.
The announcement from the company dictates that its platform will now facilitate its users by allowing them to receive cryptocurrencies from third-party services. This also includes digital wallets and crypto exchanges.
Mercado’s statement said that people will be able to use its Mercado Pago app for receiving Bitcoin, Pax Dollar, and Ethereum from other digital wallets. It disclosed that they had also enabled transfers within the app in the previous week.
Expansion in service
Previously, the Mercado Pago services had functioned as a closed ecosystem, but this expansion will allow it to enhance the functionality of its trading services. Before this addition, users only had the option of buying and selling cryptocurrencies via the app. There are some other companies, such as NuBank, which function the same way, as they have partnered with Paxos for offering crypto services.
Customers had also requested Mercado Pago to add the feature of transferring cryptocurrencies within the accounts that exist on their platform. Now, they will be able to move their crypto holdings without having to exchange them for Brazilian fiat currency.
Withdrawals not supported
Even though the company added crypto services last year, it should be noted that the system does not offer withdrawal support on its platform. This means you cannot make withdrawals to other wallets and exchanges. Mercado Pago’s president of fintech, Osvaldo Gimenez, had said back in December that they would introduce withdrawals in a matter of time.
He had said that once they offer withdrawals, they would also add support for transfers between accounts, but offering access to crypto was their priority. However, this announcement was made six months ago and the company has still not added the functionality of withdrawals to its platform. It should be noted that a time frame had not been mentioned at the time of the statement.
Recently, Mercadolibre decided to enter into a partnership with payment company MasterCard in order to provide its customers with a secure way of making transactions and lowering the risks associated with conducting transactions on the platform. The announcement of the company stated that they would leverage the capabilities of MasterCard for avoiding money laundering, along with other illegal activities on the platform. This would certainly benefit the company, especially since the crypto market in Latin America seems to be growing at a rapid pace and people prioritize security.
