Largest e-commerce retailer in South America accepts Bitcoin payments

MercadoLibre is South America’s eBay. Now the continent’s largest retail company has taken steps that could give crypto adoption in the region a huge boost.

Crypto adoption is growing. Thanks to the enormous gains made by Bitcoin and Co., on the one hand, more and more institutional investors are getting into digital assets, on the other hand, the number of companies that accept crypto currencies as a means of payment is growing. MercadoLibre belongs to the latter category. Like one Press release As of April 28, the largest e-commerce retailer in Latin America is now indirectly accepting Bitcoin as a means of payment for its real estate division. The eBay of South America opens the doors wide for continental crypto adoption.

The service is initially limited to Argentina. This means that over 75 properties from seven brokers have been for sale since Wednesday. These are apartments, houses and properties in the greater Buenos Aires, Santa Fé and Córdoba area. In order to create optimal conditions, MercadoLibre had offered a webinar in advance, in which, according to its own information, over 300 real estate companies and players from the industry took part. It is still unclear when the service will be expanded, but given the number of webinar participants, it is likely that the offer will increase in the next few days.

This is how customers can buy real estate with Bitcoin

The buying process works as follows. The prospective buyer comes across a property that the broker is offering in US dollars on the MercadoLibre website. If the customer wants to pay in Bitcoin, they contact the broker and submit their proposal. The transaction is then not processed via MercadoLibre, but a daily exchange.

In the announcement, Juan Manuel Carretero, Sales Director for Vehicles, Real Estate and Services, justified the company’s move:

We always closely follow the changes that occur in the market. Bitcoin offers several advantages to real estate deals, for both the buyer and the seller. […] We expect it to be a lot more as the days go on, as it is by no means a fad, but a trend that will consolidate over time.

Juan Manuel Carretero, MercadoLibre

The indirect acceptance of Bitcoin on the platform of the e-commerce company sends a signal in South America. More and more merchants will inevitably join the offer and thus further promote crypto adoption. MercadoLibre could even intensify this effect, either through the direct acceptance of the means of payment or, even better, with its own investment in digital gold, modeled on Tesla or MicroStrategy.