SoftBank is investing $ 200 million in Brazil’s largest crypto platform

Softbank has invested $ 200 million in the Brazilian crypto exchange giant Mercado Bitcoin. This is Softbank’s largest investment in Latin America to date. The news was announced by Mercado’s parent company, 2TM Group, whose valuation has risen to $ 2.1 billion after the latest round of funding.

SoftBank invests $ 200 million in Brazil’s largest cryptocurrency platform điện

The leading Brazilian cryptocurrency exchange Mercado Bitcoin has raised $ 200 million from SoftBank Latin America Fund, the parent company of the Mercado 2TM Group. The investment values ​​2TM Group at $ 2.1 billion and is SoftBank’s largest investment in a crypto company in Latin America.

The financing comes just a few months after the São Paulo-based Mercado Bitcoin Collection A sphere (in unspecified amounts) in January 2021, which is jointly managed by G2D / GP Investments and Parallax Ventures, with the participation of HS Investimentos, Gear Ventures, Évora and Genial. JPMorgan and DealMake.

It also comes after the first half of the impressive first 12 months for the company. According to Mercado Bitcoin, around 700,000 new customers signed up to use its providers between January and May 2021, increasing its buyer base to 2.8 million. That is more than 70% of all individual investors measured by the change in stocks in Brazil, based on the company. Additionally, Mercado Bitcoin’s transaction volume rose from 12 months to $ 5 billion in its first 5 months, which is more than the total amount it found mixed in the first seven years. That is an 11-fold increase over the number of skilled workers for the same period in 2020.

Upon closer observation of SoftBank’s investments in the $ 250 million round raised by Mexican crypto exchange Bitso in May, the deal shows a growing interest in bringing Bitcoin and other types of money to Latin America.

“This Series B round will help us keep investing in our infrastructure, which will allow us to scale and be responsive,” said Roberto Dagnoni, Executive Chairman and CEO of 2TM Group. “We want to be the most important solution provider for companies.”

Learn more about the Mercado Bitcoin cryptocurrency exchange

Mercado Bitcoin was founded in 2013 by the brothers Gustavo and Mauricio Chamati and is the first cryptocurrency exchange in Brazil. The company has been profitable since 2018 and has been bootstrapping since its inception through January 2021 to reinvest funds in growth and portfolio expansion, according to 2TM Group’s CEO and Executive Chairman Roberto Dagnoni.

“This makes us a somewhat unique case in the ecosystem and among our fintech peers in general – very few companies have balanced more than 100% year-over-year growth with profitability.” Positive, “he told TechCrunch, describing Mercado Bitcoin as the “crown” of the 2TM Group.

The parent company owns several other entities such as Meubank, a multi-asset wallet and account service currently approved by the Brazilian central bank; Bitrust, a qualified digital custodian, and Clearbook, a crowdfunding platform, among others.

In 2019, 2TM Group became the first company in the world to tokenize public debt. Then, in 2020, the company released Futecoin, the world’s first digital asset based on the FIFA solidarity mechanism.

“We have also tokenized or distributed private debt, carbon credits, and a variety of utilities and DeFi tokens,” said Dagnoni. This year, Bitrust will expand its first Latin America-based digital storage supervision service.

Dagnoni added: “There is much more to come and the qualifying round will be a relevant factor in supporting further innovation. Despite declining to disclose the amount of Mercado Bitcoin’s Series A round, he said it has enabled the company to invest around $ 40 million to expand its operations in Brazil this year.

“Mercado Bitcoin is a regional market leader in the crypto sector and the leading cryptocurrency exchange in Brazil. Paulo Passoni, Managing Partner at SoftBanks SBLA Advisers Corp. (Manager of the Software Latin Foundation) said. “At SoftBank we want to invest in entrepreneurs who challenge the status quo with technology-oriented or technology-supported business models that revolutionize an industry – Mercado Bitcoin does it.

Despite the rapid growth of the local cryptocurrency market, Brazilian regulators are lagging behind. In 2018, Brazil’s antitrust regulator, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE), launched an investigation into the country’s largest banks for alleged abuse of power by closing accounts of cryptocurrency brokers. The survey has been carried out since last year. In April 2020, Senator Soraya Thronicke proposed an expanded set of rules for “virtual assets” companies, Brazilian custodians and issuers to protect consumers, tax electronic money and take criminal enforcement action. So far, however, there have been no clear measures on the bill. However, Dagnoni said the country’s regulatory environment is favorable and the company is working closely with regulators “to create a consistent framework for alternative digital investments in the country.” Financial markets. “

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