Mercado Libre, Circle expand into Chile with USDC

Mercado Libre continues its venture into offering crypto for Latin Americans, this time partnering with Circle

article-image

Sergei Elagin/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Latin American digital payment platform Mercado Pago is now offering USDC payments for customers in Chile, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire announced Tuesday on X, formerly Twitter.

Allaire called Mercado Libre, the e-commerce firm that runs Mercado Pago, the Amazon of Latin America. 

In a more detailed blog post, senior director of Mercado Pago Matías Spagui lauded this integration as a way for millions of people in Chile to access its stablecoin.

“With the launch of this stablecoin we seek to diversify access to cryptocurrencies and offer the more than two million Mercado Pago users an alternative that matches the value of the dollar,” Spagui said in a statement.

Allaire mentioned that this move into Chile essentially capitalizes on what the company already knows about its customers and the stablecoin business in general.

The majority of stablecoin activity — specifically USDC transactions — happens outside the US, where the US dollar makes up for around 96% of trade invoicing, according to the Federal Reserve.

“We recently shared that ~70% of USDC adoption was non-US, and a lot of that is driven by emerging markets. Latin American [fintechs] will be a major driving force in the adoption of digital dollars,” Allaire posted on X. 

Mercado Libre, the firm Circle is partnering with to get more widespread USDC access to Chilean citizens, hasn’t been shy in the crypto space. 

The company launched Ethereum-based token MercadoCoin in Brazil last August as an alternate means to earn cashback on purchases made through its e-commerce platform.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) represent low-hanging fruit in a massive market ripe for Web3-driven disruption. The global CDN market was valued at ~$28B in 2024, and is projected to surpass $140B by 2034, (18.75% CAGR) underscoring the immense demand for efficient content delivery.

article-image

Long before BlackRock’s ETF, there was the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust

article-image

Mainnet goes live with a 16-node federation, promising five-second block times, low fees and Bitcoin-native DeFi

article-image

Sponsored

WalletConnect Certified is not just a recognition program, it’s a movement to improve how users onboard, transact, and engage across the onchain ecosystem

article-image

In crypto investing, quantity has a quality all its own.

article-image

REX and Osprey prep to launch their Solana staking ETF