Online marketplace Mercado Libre, Latin America’s answer to Amazon, today announced the launch of its own cryptocurrency.
The company has launched Mercado Coin as an ECR20 token for customers in Brazil – the applicable standard for tokens created using the Ethereum blockchain. Marketplace users will be able to use it to earn cashback rewards.
The company said that the Mercado Coin will be priced at $0.10 initially, but will be subject to market volatility.
Mercado Libre said, “Mercado Coin is our new way to reward our users for their behavior within our ecosystem.” “The more purchases they make of selected products, the more Mercado Coins they receive.”
The Argentine cryptocurrency exchange Ripio developed the technology behind the token.
Marcos Galperin, CEO and founder of Mercado Libre, said on Twitter: “Today we launched Mercado Coin in Brazil, providing a further boost to our loyalty program and another step towards democratizing financial inclusion in Latin America.”
The idea is that customers will be able to use the cryptocurrency to buy things on the market or trade them through the company’s fintech arm, Mercado Pago.
Mercado Libre also stated that the token will not be available for purchase on platforms other than Mercado Pago.
Mercado Libre is the largest online marketplace in Latin America and has worth millions of dollars of bitcoin on its balance sheet.
were in january Rumors Mercado Libre was working on issuing its own stablecoin – but this was never confirmed by the firm.
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