In a major boost, Bitso, one of the mega sponsors of cryptocurrency in Latin America, hit 1 million users ahead of its launch in Brazil. The director of cross-border payments at Bitso Satiago Alvarado spoke about the latest developments to leverage cross-border payments in Latin America during panel discussion on Wednesday. It is understood that the discussion was joined by Ripple’s director of product Craig DeWitt and Prysm Group’s Reed Cataldo.
Alvarado, in the panel discussion, said that Bitso reached a major milestone by hitting a one million user market last week. It has already topped the Mexican and Argentinian crypto markets with the hopes now lying in the Brazil market.
Launched in 2014, Bitso was the first crypto exchange in Mexico and is the largest crypto trading platform in the country. After it was rolled out to service in Argentina in February 2020, Bitso already became the biggest crypto exchange in the country as well, Alvarado noted.
According to the executive, the success Bitso earned in Argentina is connected with extraordinary crypto activity and an increased demand for cross-border payments in the local market. “Argentina has a very large crypto community and a huge freelance user base,” Alvarado said, noting that a number of local freelancers and engineering contractors use crypto to receive payments from employers in the United States.
“In Latin America, about 50% or 60% of the population have bank accounts, but almost 80% have smartphones,” Alvarado said, outlining mobile phones as major factors enabling a “huge innovation in terms of delivering financial services”.
According to a report in Cointelegraph, the news comes amid an apparent surge in cryptocurrency trading in Argentina. During the week ended on July 7, Argentina traded 92 Bitcoin (BTC) on LocalBitcoins — the biggest amount traded on the exchange in Argentina since 2016.
According to data from Coin Dance, that equaled over 100 million Argentine pesos — the largest amount of local currency ever traded against BTC.
Disclaimer: The information provided is not trading advice, Bitcoinworld.co.in holds no liability for any investments made based on the information provided on this page. We strongly recommend independent research and/or consultation with a qualified professional before making any investment decisions.