Coinbase Global (COIN) is in talks to buy 2TM, the owner of Mercado Bitcoin, Brazil’s largest cryptocurrency exchange
Negotiations between Coinbase and 2TM have been ongoing since last year, and a deal might be revealed in late April. According to the firm, Mercado Bitcoin had 3.2 million customers in 2021, up from 1.1 million the previous year, and its trading volume had increased to $7.1 billion.
2TM raised $200 million in a Series B fundraising round in June, followed by another $50 million in November, valuing the firm at $2.1 billion.
Global exchanges including Coinbase, Binance, and Crypto.com turned their focus to Brazil during a crypto adoption boom that tripled stablecoin trading in 2021 over the previous year.
Coinbase announced the development of an engineering hub in Brazil in November 2020, as well as the opening of other opportunities to expand its workforce there.
During a visit to Sao Paulo on March 16, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao stated that the company aims to acquire banks and payment processors in Brazil. The company also inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to buy Brazilian securities brokerage Sim;paul Investimentos in the same month.
2TM CEO Roberto Dagnoni told CoinDesk that the company wants to expand in Latin America through acquisitions in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico. CriptoLoja, Portugal’s first legal crypto exchange, was bought by the company in January.
2TM is the parent company of Meubank, MB Digital Assets, Bitrust, Blockchain Academy, and MezaPro, in addition to Mercado Bitcoin. Coinbase reportedly targeted Mexican crypto exchange Bitso as a target for purchase, according to Estado, but no agreement was finalized.
2TM is a Brazilian fintech unicorn that owns Mercado Bitcoin, one of the continent’s most popular cryptocurrency exchanges. 2TM has also broadened its investment portfolio, presenting itself as a go-between for the digital asset and traditional financial sectors.
This ostensibly positions it to service traditional investors and institutions interested in the crypto market, while also attempting to reach out to the retail investor interested in digital assets.
Also Read: Coinbase: Users in Canada, Singapore, and Japan will be Required to Provide Recipient Information for Cryptocurrency Remittances
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