Key Takeaways:
- Bitso partners with Circle Solutions to launch a cross-border payment initiative between Mexico and the United States.
- The goal is to allow users to save U.S. dollars worth in stablecoins and use it to pay for products as required.
Bitso, founded in 2014 and supported by big crypto businesses such as Coinbase and Ripple, is one of the leading cryptocurrency platforms in Latin America. Bitso is the principal cryptocurrency service provider for Chivo, El Salvador’s official Bitcoin (BTC) wallet. The exchange’s user base nearly quadrupled from 1 million users in July 2020 to almost 3 million users in September 2021.
Bitso is integrating Circle’s payment system to enable cross-border transfers to and from the United States to be more accessible and secure for Mexican consumers and enterprises, the firm announced Thursday.
The firm said it would integrate with Circle’s payment systems, giving Mexicans a new way to send and receive money to and from the U.S. In addition, the effort will allow users to make deposits and withdrawals via local wire transfers and execute payments to the United States or Mexico by leveraging the payment solutions of Circle, the payment services firm that operates the USD coin (USDC) stablecoin.
The new Bitso Shift service leverages cryptocurrency to provide quick, low-cost cross-border transfers available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, allowing users to instantaneously switch between Mexican pesos and stablecoins backed by U.S. dollars. (USD).
According to the World Bank, the United States is Mexico’s most important trading partner. According to Mexico’s Central Bank, Mexico will receive $40 billion in remittances from the United States in 2020.
Mexican residents who do not have a bank account are authorized to deposit up to $ 300 per day, but not more than $ 1,500 per month, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration. Deposits of more than $ 4,000 per month are not permitted. There would be no restrictions on the transfer of U.S. funds to or from Mexico at the same time.
Bitso stated in the launch that “Wire transfers to Bitso Shift are processed within 24 to 48 hours through fully regulated institutions,” The company did not react to TBEN’s request for comment right away.
Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of Circle, sees enormous potential for the firms “to be part of making cross-border exchanges seamless between the U.S. and Mexico – the world’s largest exchange corridor.”
According to Bitso, wire transfers to Bitso Shift would take 24 to 48 hours to process, while in-app transactions between U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins and Mexican pesos would take seconds. The business also said that there are no minimum transaction volumes or balance requirements.
Bitso completed a $2.2 billion Series C fundraising round in May, making it the first cryptocurrency firm in the area to surpass a $1 billion value. Bitso has over three million users and intends to grow into Brazil. It is already established in Argentina and Mexico.
