Crypto demands specific expertise that Mercado Libre, as an e-commerce technology company, didn’t possess.
It was important for Mercado Libre to segregate crypto from its regulated financial activities as a payment services and credit provider.
As the final consideration, Mercado Libre was concerned with scale implications if the team tried to build the solution themselves.
Regulatory considerations
Paxos is regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS)—meaning it meets the highest standards for trading, custody and token issuance.
Speed to market
Paxos had a demonstrated track record of helping partners launch crypto to their users quickly—with no surprises and very few bugs.
APIs and technology
Paxos’ blockchain infrastructure was already powering crypto for some of the largest tech companies and financial institutions in the world, such as PayPal and Mastercard. It also had gained a reputation for the speed of its APIs.
USDP’s reserves are held 100% in cash and US treasuries, meaning that customer funds are always available for a 1:1 redemption.
Client assets are held bankruptcy remote. Under New York Banking law, in the event of Paxos Trust insolvency, customer assets would not be used to satisfy the debts of Paxos.
Mercado Libre became the first fintech to make crypto easily accessible to all Brazilians.
Mercado Libre’s launch represented the single largest enablement of stablecoins within a non-crypto wallet to date. By listing USDP, Mercado Libre provides an easy and direct way for its users to access US dollars—all in just a few clicks.
After launch, Mercado Libre continued to see incredible success and eclipsed 1 million users of its crypto wallet in the first 60 days, with more people trading crypto using the app than on the Brazilian stock exchange.
