Episode #95: Mercado Bitcoin wants to tokenize R$1 billion in assets in 2024

Brazil Crypto Report

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Episode #95: Mercado Bitcoin wants to tokenize R$1 billion in assets in 2024

MB's Head of New Business Fabrício Tota joins to discuss the exchange's strategy heading into the next bull market

Aaron Stanley

Mar 30, 2024

Olá pessoal!

Fabrício Tota is Head of New Business at Mercado Bitcoin, one of Brazil's leading crypto platforms. He was one of the first guests I interviewed for BCR nearly two years ago; a lot has changed since then, so I figured it was time for a redux.

In this conversation, we discuss how Mercado Bitcoin weathered the recent crypto bear market, its successful foray into the asset tokenization space and how it’s positioning itself for the next bull market.

Key points from the episode:

Over the past two years, Mercado Bitcoin has heavily focused on tokenizing fixed income products tailored to the Brazilian investor market.
Tokenizing fixed income fills a product gap as most crypto exchanges have traditionally focused on just listing coins/tokens. By "tropicalizing" tokenization for the local market, Mercado Bitcoin has been able to drive adoption — with more than 500 million reais ($100 million USD) worth of these tokenized products to retail investors
As regulation around tokenization in Brazil becomes clearer from the CVM, Mercado Bitcoin expects this business line to expand rapidly throughout 2024.
MB has also developed crypto-as-a-service offerings to allow other institutions to easily integrate crypto trading, custody, and products into their platforms.
Mercado Bitcoin is one of the few crypto-native firms participating in the Central Bank's Drex pilot program for a Brazilian CBDC/blockchain infrastructure. Their role gives them insights into potential future use cases like tokenizing real-world assets on Drex.

Looking ahead to the next bull market, Fabricio provided his perspectives:

The competitive landscape in Brazil will intensify as global exchanges set up local operations and large banks roll out crypto offerings.
Some consolidation is likely as not all firms can meet heightened regulatory standards. Clear rules will benefit incumbents like Mercado Bitcoin.
The past month has seen a speculative frenzy in meme coins and altcoins on MB’s platform - a sign of the next bull run brewing.

You can connect with Fabricio on Linkedin.

I hope you enjoy this conversation with Have a great week everyone,

- AWS