According to a local media report, Coinbase was close to approaching an agreement to purchase the owner of the most prominent crypto exchange based in Brazil.
Crypto exchange Coinbase Global is in conversations to obtain 2TM, the current owner of Mercado Bitcoin, the most prominent crypto exchange located in Brazil, According to the newspaper Estadão.
The highlights in the report, which did not highlight sources, mention that the negotiations between Coinbase and 2TM happened last year, and a deal could get revealed in April.
The company revealed to CoinDesk that Mercado Bitcoin achieved at least 3.2 million users in 2021, of which 1.1 million got introduced last year. The entity also expressed that its trading volume reached $7,100—million in 2021, which would make it the most critical exchange in the field.
In June, 2TM collected at least $200 million in a Series B funding stage and $50 million in second funding ending in November, positioning the entity in a value estimated at $2.1 billion.
On the other hand, Mercado Bitcoin keeps expanding its tentacles in the field. In January of this year, the entity revealed the purchase of CryptoLoja, the most prominent exchange located in Portugal.
With Eyes Over Brazil
According to CoinDesk, amid a crypto adoption explosion in Brazil that tripled stable coin trading in 2021 from the previous year, global exchanges like Coinbase, Binance, and Crypto.com focused their interest on the Latin American country.
In November 2020, Coinbase revealed the foundation of an engineering center based in Brazil and opened different positions to consolidate its team.
Binance, on the other hand, intends to obtain payment processors located in Brazil; Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao explained this desire during his visit to Sao Paulo on March 16. The company approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to purchase Brazilian stock brokerage Sim; paul Investimentos.
2TM intends to evolve and consolidate its headquarters in Latin America through purchases made in countries such as Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico; 2TM CEO Roberto Dagnoni explained toCoinDesk these intentions.
The representative explained the purposes of purchasing Mercado Bitcoin; 2TM also owns entities such as Meubank, MB Digital Assets, and MezaPro among others.
According to Estadão, Coinbase also showed interest in purchasing Mexican exchange Bitso, but no deal got reached between the parties. Beyond the data brought by that media outlet, there has been no official statement from either Coinbase or Mercado Bitcoin.
According to Zhao, the exchange wishes to join efforts with regulators and government entities to find better methods to foster the development of the crypto field more harmonically.
Expand Into the non-crypto Space
During his visit to Brazil, Zhao held meetings with regulators and representatives in the political environment, including the governor of São Paulo, João Dória.
Last week, Zhao said that Binance intends to purchase more and more entities in the non-crypto field to evolve and improve the appeal of digital assets in the market. Banks could be one of those entities in the sights of the entrepreneur.
By: Jenson Nuñez
