By
Temitope Olatunji
March 27th, 2024
With strategic acquisitions and focused partnerships, Ripio is gradually positioning itself as a major crypto adoption driver in the Latin American region.
Crypto firm Ripio has just launched prepaid crypto cards in Brazil, albeit in collaboration with payments giant Visa. The card will allow holders to make payments in as many as 28 different cryptocurrencies while they also earn crypto rewards as cashback. That is, payments may be made using any of the 28 cryptocurrencies already listed on the Ripio platform, or with the Brazilian real.
Ripio to Extend Pre-paid Crypto Cards across Latin America
The Brazil rollout is the first step in many more to come as Ripio hopes to expand its business across the Latin American region. According to Ripio CEO Sebastian Serrano, his firm is also looking to launch the card in Argentina later this year. Furthermore, Serrano says a potential rollout in the other countries where the firm operates, should not be ruled out. These include Spain, Uruguay, Mexico, and Colombia among others.
But firstly, Ripio hopes to release at least 250,000 cards in Brazil by the end of 2022. The firm also confirms that the digital version of the card is already available to its users in the country.
Building on its current 3.5 million user base across the countries where it currently operates, Ripio has other plans. In the year running, the firm hopes to start operating in Chile as well. The crypto firm is also intensifying efforts to start out its operations in the rest of Latin America next year. Ripio is eyeing the likes of Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay for its business in 2023.
Pioneering Moves
Ripio is undoubtedly one of the major drivers of crypto adoption in Latin America. And its recent integration of prepaid crypto cards in Brazil is a further proof of that statement. Serrano said:
“We also believe that this is something that is going to become much more widespread and we want to be the catalysts for the future.”
With strategic acquisitions and focused partnerships, Ripio has gradually positioned itself as a major crypto adoption driver in the Latin American region. In early 2021, the firm acquired BitcoinTrade crypto exchange. But while the exchange currently retains its original name, it is set to change to Ripio by the end of 2022.
Interestingly, Ripio appears to be particularly interested in Brazil. Just last week, the firm co-launched the Mercado Coin with Latin America’s biggest e-commerce firm by market cap Mercado Libre. That collaboration sees Ripio handling the custody and trading aspects of the Mercado Coin. There is also the Web3.0 action which saw the firm launch the wallet it calls the “Ripio Portal” in July.