“Can a crypto exchange become Brazil's mainstream financial super-app by hiding blockchain rails behind familiar products (banking, credit, fixed income, cross-border)?”
Founded 2013 as Brazil's first Bitcoin exchange by the Chamati brothers. Hit unicorn status in 2021 on the back of a $200M SoftBank-led Series B. Since 2024-2025, deliberately repositioning away from a pure trading venue toward a 'financial super app' — adding tokenized fixed-income (Renda Fixa Digital), digital banking accounts, PIX rails, crypto-collateralized lending (CriptoCrédito / MB Pay), Ripple-powered cross-border payments and a CVM-licensed broker via the Banco Mercantil CCTVM acquisition. The thesis is 'invisible blockchain' — use crypto rails behind the scenes while shipping mainstream financial products to 4M+ Brazilian retail customers.
Mercado Bitcoin discloses Mercado Bitcoin / CCTVM (acquired from Banco Mercantil) (in-house) and MB Pay (in-house) as its banking providers, with Banco Mercantil CCTVM (acquired) as its sponsor bank, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Mercado Bitcoin does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through Banco Mercantil CCTVM (acquired).
Mercado Bitcoin processes payments through PIX (self-operated via CCTVM/banking partners) and MB Pay (self-operated). Disclosed money-movement rails: Pix.
Mercado Bitcoin's lending and capital products are provided by MB Pay / CriptoCrédito (in-house) and MB (in-house).
Mercado Bitcoin uses Ripple Payments for FX and cross-border payouts.
Mercado Bitcoin's crypto products run on Mercado Bitcoin (in-house exchange and tokenization platform), MB (in-house), Polygon, Plume, XDC Network, Wormhole and Mercado Bitcoin (in-house custody).
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 9 layers in Mercado Bitcoin's stack: Payments / PSP (PIX (self-operated via CCTVM/banking partners) and MB Pay (self-operated)); Money movement (Pix); Banking / BaaS (Mercado Bitcoin / CCTVM (acquired from Banco Mercantil) (in-house) and MB Pay (in-house)); Lending (MB Pay / CriptoCrédito (in-house), MB (in-house), CriptoCrédito (crypto-collateralized BRL loans, up to 30% LTV), MB Pay credit facility and 1 other); Unified APIs (Ripple Payments); Sponsor bank (Banco Mercantil CCTVM (acquired)); FX & payouts (Ripple Payments); Crypto (Mercado Bitcoin (in-house exchange and tokenization platform), MB (in-house), Polygon, Plume and 3 others); Treasury (Ripple Payments).
Mercado Bitcoin was founded by Gustavo Chamati and Mauricio Chamati and is founded in 2013, headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil.
Mercado Bitcoin has raised $200M+ (disclosed) in total (latest round: Series B, 2021; valuation: $2.1B (2021, 2TM Group parent)).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Mercado Bitcoin and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.