Latin America E-Commerce Giant MercadoLibre Purchases $7.8 Million Worth of Bitcoin

Mercadolibre, a Latin American e-commerce giant, revealed that it added cryptocurrency to its balance sheet, scooping up $7.8 million worth of Bitcoin. Besides that, the stock listed company announced that it has also accepted Bitcoin as a payment method.

Consumers now can pay in Bitcoin for purchases of goods and services bought via the American e-commerce site.

The Argentina-based firm stated in an earnings report that the Bitcoin purchase occurred in the last quarter ending in March and was part of the company’s treasury strategy.

The online retailer, partnered with BitPay Georgia-based payment service provider, plans to enable cryptocurrency services on its platform.

Apart from that, Mercadolibre launched a new Bitcoin-only real estate platform last week.

The online retailer integrated Bitcoin into its MercadoPago payments platform in 2015. Currently, Brazilian consumers use the MercadoPago platform to pay for Uber, metro rides and utility bills.

With its Bitcoin investment and integrating the crypto into its platform, the firm’s involvement in the digital asset sector appears fruitful.

Mercadolibre – the largest e-commerce retailer in Latin America – is listed on the Nasdaq stock market and trades under the ticker symbol MELI. The company has a market capitalization of over $76 billion. 

The online retailer’s decision to invest in Bitcoin and accept it as a payment method legitimatizes the cryptocurrency. More than 3000 brands or stores are known to conduct their business trades within Mercadolibre’s ecosystem in the region with the retailer widely popular in nations including Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina.

Bitcoin Better Than Holding Cash

Mercadolibre becomes the latest publicly-traded company to add Bitcoin to its balance sheet. Although the Bitcoin purchase is small compared to Tesla ($1.5 billion) or MicroStrategy ($2.2 billion), Mercadolibre’s investment indicates a strong step towards mainstreaming cryptocurrencies as a reliable investment and payment method.

An increasing number of publicly traded companies, including Square payment company, Tesla motor vehicle manufacturing firm, MicroStrategy software company, MassMutual insurance company, and others have added Bitcoin as part of their capital allocation strategy to maximize long-term value of investments for their shareholders. Such investments show that Bitcoin is a reliable store of value and an attractive hedge asset with more long-term appreciation potential than cash.