Brazilian E-commerce giant MercadoLibre launches its own cryptocurrency

Despite the cryptocurrency sector facing a bleak future, Brazilian E-commerce giant MercadoLibre has launched its own cryptocurrency. The newly launched digital currency will primarily be used in Brazil.

MercadoLibre made the announcement on August 18 through a Twitter post that said:

“Today we launch Mercado Coin in Brazil, further boosting our loyalty program and taking another step to democratize financial inclusion in Latin America. MercadoLibre to create cryptocurrency as part of loyalty program.”

The MercadoCoin

The newly launched token is called MercadoCoin and is set to be used as part of the E-commerce giant’s loyalty program for its customers in Brazil.

According to the founder and CEO of MercadoLibre, Marcos Galperin, the cryptocurrency is a boost to the company’s loyalty program.

While unveiling the cryptocurrency, MercadoLibre said that any customer in Brazil will be eligible for earning the cryptocurrency whose initial value was $0.10. Customers can earn the coin as cashback, customers will have to use the E-commerce giant’s platform for purchases.

The accumulated coins can then be used for trading on MercadoPago (MercadoLibre’s financial services and digital payments platform for businesses and customers) or making other purchases.

At the moment, MercadoLibre’s cryptocurrency is available to over 500,000 customers in Brazil and is expected to be adopted by the entire base of 80 million clients in the country. There is however no mention of expanding the cryptocurrency to other Latin American countries so far.