E-commerce giant MercadoLibre to sunset rewards-based Mercado Coin: Report

Latin American e-commerce platform MercadoLibre is reportedly phasing out the Mercado Coin that it launched in August 2022, which was aimed at offering cash backs and other perks for users.

According to a Reuters report on Tuesday, users must sell or spend their loyalty coin balances through the Mercado Pago app before April 17. If no action is taken, the balances will be converted to Brazilian reals. 

Brazil has been the main market for Mercado Coin, which enables users to earn tokens as cash back when buying products on MercadoLibre, considered to be the “Amazon of Latin America.”

The shutting down of Mercado Coin doesn't spell the end of crypto rewards for MercadoLibre users, as the e-commerce platform still offers Meli Dolar (MUSD), a US-dollar stablecoin that launched in 2024.

MercadoLibre customers use MUSD for everyday transactions and peer-to-peer payments on the platform, while subscribers to Meli+ can also receive cash back on MUSD purchases. 

Data from MercadoLibre’s latest attestation report on Feb. 28 shows that MUSD balances are backed by $75 million worth of assets.

Nubank’s Nucoin collapsed in 2024

Launching in-house utility coins in Latin America has proven to be a tough task.

Nubank, Brazil's largest bank, launched the Polygon-based Nucoin in late 2022 and airdropped tokens to much of its more than 100 million customer base shortly after. 

However, the token’s value collapsed 97% by September 2024, forcing Nubank to suspend trading of the token.

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Nubank started restructuring its loyalty program for Nucoin in July, stripping out its market-based features and repositioning it as a rewards program focused on engagement, perks and in-app benefits.

MercadoLibre has held strong on its Bitcoin

Meanwhile, MercadoLibre continues to hold Bitcoin (BTC) as a treasury asset, with 570.4 Bitcoin worth $38.85 million marked on its balance sheet, BitcoinTreasuries.NET data shows.

MercadoLibre was one of the earlier corporations to invest in Bitcoin, making its first purchase in 2021.

The e-commerce platform hasn’t sold since and is up nearly 77% on its Bitcoin investment, having purchased the coins at an average price of $38,569.

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