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E-Commerce Giant Mercado Libre Taps Paxos to Power Crypto Service in Brazil
Users of Mercado Pago will be able to buy and sell bitcoin, ether and the USDP stablecoin starting in December.
Updated May 11, 2023, 4:09 p.m. Published Dec 2, 2021, 10:16 p.m.
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Mercado Libre, Latin America’s largest e-commerce company by market value, is integrating Paxos’ blockchain infrastructure to allow users in Brazil to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies, Mercado Libre announced Thursday.
Starting later this month, users of Mercado Pago, Mercado Libre’s digital wallet, will be able to buy and sell bitcoin, ether and the stablecoin , Mercado Libre said. The minimum amount required for a transaction will be 1 Brazilian real, it added.
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Paxos will handle crypto trading and custody for Mercado Pago users in an arrangement similar to its integration with PayPal in late 2020 – a service that was widely seen to accelerate the mainstreaming of cryptocurrencies in the U.S. and beyond.
Last week, Mercado Libre told CoinDesk that it was entering the cryptocurrency environment in Brazil together with “a world-class custodian,” adding that it was “analyzing all financial and regulatory aspects surrounding this technology.”
It said Thursday that the crypto service would launch in December but did not specify a date in response to a CoinDesk query.
Read more: Latin American E-Commerce Giant Mercado Libre to Enable Crypto Investments in Brazil
Mercado Pago’s new initiative will provide crypto and stablecoin access to more than 200 million Brazilians, Walter Hessert, head of strategy for Paxos, said in a statement. “This will accelerate mainstream adoption of cryptocurrency and stablecoins across the continent. We are thrilled to partner with Mercado Pago to make it possible,” he added.
“The complete management of crypto can be carried out from a free account, thus facilitating access to new opportunities for financial growth, especially for those currently outside the financial system,” Tulio Oliveira, vice president of Mercado Pago in Brazil, said in a statement.
Mercado Pago’s app will provide bitcoin, ether and USDP prices, as well as educational content about the three cryptocurrencies, the company said.
“The content will address the crypto assets ecosystem, as well as the opportunities and risks associated with cryptocurrency investing,” the company added.
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KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
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- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
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Stablecoins moved $35 trillion last year but only 1% of it was for 'real world' payments
While stablecoins settled around $35 trillion last year, only around 1% of that represented genuine payments like remittances and payroll, a new report found.
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- Stablecoins processed more than $35 trillion in transactions last year, but only about 1% of that reflected real-world payments, a report by McKinsey and Artemis Analytics found.
- The study estimated that roughly $390 billion in genuine stablecoin payments, such as vendor payments, payrolls, remittances and capital markets settlements.
- Despite rapid growth and increasing interest from traditional payment firms like Visa and Stripe, true stablecoin payments still account for just a tiny fraction of the more than $2 quadrillion global payments market, the report said.
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