Despite volatility and bleak warnings about its future, the cryptocurrency sector is growing, with new coins appearing every day, including one by South American e-commerce company MercadoLibre, whose newly introduced digital asset will be implemented in Brazil.
Indeed, MercadoLibre announced that its token, called MercadoCoin, will be used as part of a loyalty program for its customers in the largest country in both South American and Latin America, Marcos Galperin, the founder and CEO of MercadoLibre, confirmed the information on August 18.
The Argentine businessman commented that the launch of his cryptocurrency was a “boost” to his customer loyalty program.
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How is MercadoCoin earned and spent?
During the press conference in which the cryptocurrency was unveiled, the company stated that its customers will be eligible for earning MercadoCoin, whose value will initially be set at $0.10, as cashback when using its platform for their purchases.
The accumulated crypto will be available for other purchases or for trading it on MercadoLibre’s financial services and digital payments platform for consumers and businesses in Latin America called MercadoPago.
Brazil as the target market
The loyalty crypto is available for 500,000 of the company’s customers in Brazil but is expected to encompass its entire base of 80 million clients in the South American country by the end of August.
So far, there has been no mention of the timeline for expanding the cryptocurrency to other Latin American countries or making it available for trade on exchanges other than MercadoPago.
New coins despite setbacks
Meanwhile, the crypto market has grown by over 700 new digital assets in the third quarter of 2022 and stood at 20,575 as of August 15, which is a 3.5% increase from the 19,866 recorded on June 15, as Finbold reported.
Interestingly, the number of new cryptos has increased despite the increased regulatory scrutiny worldwide and the widely publicized collapses of established ecosystems like Terra (LUNA), which has cast doubt on the sustainability of the industry.
