Mercado Bitcoin announces USDC issued by Stellar network

Mercado Bitcoin has announced it will have access to USDC issued on the Stellar network, thus offering users the possibility of transacting using USDC with lower fees, a fraction of one cent per transaction.

With this move, the largest platform for digital assets in Latin America is allowing customers to choose the network most suitable for their needs.

Denelle Dixon, CEO of Stellar Development Foundation, said: “USDC on Stellar provides Mercado Bitcoin customers both valuable interoperability and a truly borderless digital dollar. As we continue our mission of creating equitable access to the global financial system, this integration is a mutually beneficial step forward. MB is one of the largest digital assets exchanges in the southern hemisphere, with the potential to bring significant volume and liquidity to the Stellar network.”

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This is the first time that the Mercado Bitcoin platform has offered the same asset issued by different networks.

Stellar is famous for safe and cheap transactions as the network is chosen for payments, tokenization, and issuance of real assets. It has processed an average of $8.6 million a day in payments in Q1 2022. By the end of the year, Stellar plans to launch native smart contracts that will unlock the creation of numerous applications.

Mercado Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency and alternative asset trading platform in Latin America and boasts more than 3.5 million customers.

Last year, Mercado Bitcoin has raised $200 million from the SoftBank Latin America Fund, according to its parent company, 2TM Group. The firm has been using the funds raised to scale the business and offerings as well as invest in infrastructure to meet the soaring demand in the region.

It was the largest Series B round in Latin America’s history and SoftBank’s largest investment in a Latin America crypto company, with 2TM Group’s valuation at $2.1 billion USD: the eighth-most valuable unicorn in Latin America at the time.

In 2019, 2TM Group became the first company in the world to tokenize public debt assets. Since then, the company tokenized or distributed private debt, carbon credits, and a variety of utility and DeFi tokens. The group is working with regulators to build a consistent framework for alternative digital investments in Brazil.

Mercado Bitcoin’s Series A round in January 2021 was co-led by G2D/GP Investments and Parallax Ventures, with participation from HS Investimentos, Gear Ventures, Évora and Genial.