Mercado Libre phases out Mercado Coin as focus shifts to stablecoin

Latin American e-commerce platform Mercado Libre has announced plans to sunset its Mercado Coin after just four years of operation.

Mercado Libre has notified its users that they must sell or spend their loyalty coin balances through the Mercado Pago app before April 17, according to a Reuters report. Balances that are not used would be automatically converted to Brazilian reals.

Mercado Coin was launched in 2022 and allowed users to earn tokens as cash back when buying products on Mercado Libre. The platform will continue to offer crypto-based rewards through the US-dollar-backed stablecoin Meli Dolar (MUSD).

Users will now be using MUSD for everyday transactions and peer-to-peer payments. Meanwhile, Meli+ users are entitled to receive cash back on MUSD purchases.

Brazil has been the biggest market for Mercado Coin since its inception, but despite the company’s dominant market presence in the area, the proprietary token has failed to achieve the long-term scalability and utility required to sustain a standalone ecosystem.

Despite phasing out the Mercado Coin, Mercado Libre continues to hold Bitcoin in its treasury and has maintained its position since its initial purchase in 2021, with its holdings now sitting at 570.4 BTC and remaining well above its average acquisition price.

Beyond its corporate balance sheet, Mercado Libre has retained and expanded its core crypto-trading services through its fintech arm, Mercado Pago. Users across major markets like Brazil, Mexico, and Chile can still buy, sell, and hold prominent cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Mercado Libre isn’t the only company that has struggled to sustain an in-house crypto rewards token. Nubank, for instance, restructured its loyalty program for Nucoin in July, scaling back its market-based features after its token’s value collapsed, which forced the firm to suspend its trading.