Largest Latin American eCommerce platform adds $7.8M Bitcoin to its treasury

Mercado Libre, the largest e-commerce platform in Latin America, has announced to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it has acquired $7.8 million worth of Bitcoin in the first quarter of 2021.

Largest Latin American eCommerce platform adds $7.8M Bitcoin to its treasury

The report from the eCommerce giant stated:

“As part of our treasury strategy this quarter we purchased $7.8 million in Bitcoin, a digital asset that we are disclosing within our indefinite-lived intangible assets.”

Although the bitcoin related new with the eCommerce portal is not new. At the end of April, it reportedly enabled the use of Bitcoin for their real estate verticals in the Argentine market.

Marcos Galperín, founder and former CEO of Mercado Libre, has announced several times that he has owned Bitcoin in his portfolio since 2013, and he also has bullish opinions regarding the cryptocurrency ecosystem in Latin America, even stating that he saw Bitcoin as a better store of value than gold.

This purchase made the exchange the first large Latin American company to acquire Bitcoin for its treasury also it is the 36th publicly listed company to hold Bitcoin according to Bitcoin Treasuries. Mercado Libre trades on Nasdaq as MELI.