MercadoLibre Adds Cryptocurrencies in Chile

MercadoLibre has enabled bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading for its users in Chile, making it the third country where it offers this service after Brazil and Mexico.

In Chile, MercadoLibre is the first digital payments account to offer this type of operation. When the company launched the feature in Mexico, within the first month, 150,000 users signed up. And in Brazil, the company is nearing 2 million users and counting.

With a population of nearly 20 million, Chili is considered one of the most stable democracies in Latin America, offering similar freedoms available here in the U.S.

MercardoLibre is democratizing access to cryptocurrencies in South America by eliminating barriers to access to the crypto markets.

Through a simple operation from within MercadoPago wallet app, the company’s payment app, the barrier of using crypto on its marketplace requires very little technical knowledge.

The process is basic, and users with minimal amounts of knowledge of crypto can easily use digital currencies to take their first steps in buying items on the marketplace.

MercadoLibre previously enabled the feature for its Brazilian customers in November 2021 and added Mexico in October 2022. Chile is the third country for the company to expand digital currencies, and it is believed to be eyeing additional countries to expand its cryptocurrency solution in the near future.

The company is the largest online commerce and payments ecosystem in Latin America, founded in 1999 in Argentina, and now operates in 18 countries, reaching approximately 650 million people. eBay acquired 19.5% of MercadoLibre in 2001 but sold the majority of its stake in 2016.

Richard Meldner

Richard is co-founder of eSeller365. He has over 17 years of experience on eBay which includes tens of thousands of sales to buyers in over 100 countries and even has experience with eBay’s VeRO program enforcing intellectual property rights for a former employer. And for about two years Richard sold products on Amazon using Amazon FBA in the US.

To “relax” from the daily business grind, for a few weekends a year, he also works for IMSA as a professional race official.