Brazilian Central Bank Grants Mercado Bitcoin License

On June 2, local media reported that the Brazilian central bank had granted Mercado Bitcoin a license as a payment provider.

With this support, the business will introduce MB Pay, a financial service.

“The approval of the Central Bank is a crucial step, as it allows us to continue expanding our business and providing better service to our customers,” said Roberto Dagnoni, CEO of 2TM, the parent company of Mercado Bitcoin.

Using cryptocurrency assets stored on the exchange, MB Pay, a payment institution, can offer Brazilian consumers specific digital banking services, including staking, investing in digital fixed income, and other financial operations.

It is anticipated that a debit card with a crypto off-ramp for consumers will be online soon.

Traditional local broker Guide Investimentos also revealed cooperation with Mercado Bitcoin earlier this week to enter the market for digital assets.

The fintech launch for Mercado Bitcoin was initially scheduled for 2021 but was postponed because of the regulator’s approval procedure.

The development happened the same day Mercado Bitcoin was forced to pay back a group of investors who claimed that a co-founder and former executive had withheld funds in a fake hack in 2013 by paying back over 2,182 BTC (about $59,3 million as of this writing).

A thriving market for digital solutions and a population of around 214 million people have attracted crypto companies to the Latin American nation.

Brazil has been one of the top international markets, according to Binance, in the past. On May 19, the government also issued Latam Gateway, its local partner, a license to operate as a payment provider.

Crypto.com and Bitso are other cryptocurrency exchanges with Brazilian licenses to act as payment processors.

Additionally, Coinbase is growing its presence in the nation.

The American exchange has been working with regional payment processors since March to provide cryptocurrency purchases and enable deposits and withdrawals in the regional currency.