Crypto adoption is on the march in Brazil – where the government has all but incentivized mining by waiving tax duty on mining rig imports.
And after a major property developer revealed that it will begin accepting bitcoin (BTC) pay for new apartments (see below), the Brazilian media outlet Exame listed nine “major” domestic firms that have sought to enter the world of crypto – as more Brazilians and companies in the nation look to enter a Web 3-powered future.
But so fast is the speed of adoption in the nation that even while creating this article, yet another major player announced it would begin its own crypto journey, boosting the list to 10!
- 99 — The Exame list begins with a tech unicorn – a taxi and vehicle hire app that was founded in São Paulo and now serves some 300 Brazilian towns and cities. Although it was bought by the Chinese car hire giant Didi Chuxing (also known as DiDi) in 2017, its 99 Pay e-pay platform recently revealed that it is looking to offer BTC and altcoin-related financial services.
- BTG Pactual — Brazil (and Latin America’s) largest investment bank launched Mynt – a crypto trading platform – back in 2019 and had previously led the space with a range of crypto-themed exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
- Empiricus — This financial publishing company has taken the “head-first dive” into crypto – and now lists crypto as one of its three biggest business avenues. It operates a crypto ETF and has also invested some of its equity in a crypto fund operated by the domestic firm Vitreo.
- Even — This firm is the OG of crypto real estate in Brazil and thanks to a deal with the domestic exchange Mercado Bitcoin has already sold some USD 210,000 worth of property in crypto. It accepts BTC and ethereum (ETH) for all of the properties it sells.
- Gafisa — As previously reported, Gafisa – another property giant – is a newcomer to crypto, but has been eyeing the sector for over a year. It will offer an initial 437 apartments for sale via BTC pay – but is likely to follow Even’s lead and allow all customers to pay in crypto for the real estate it develops. The firm has partnered with the crypto exchange Foxbit on the project.
- Havaianas — The footwear giant began its crypto journey with a non-fungible token (NFT) project: The company teamed up with the digital designer Adhemas Batista for an NFT sale in 2021.
- Reserva — Another fashion behemoth that has taken the NFT route of late, Reserva “earned the same sum as a whole month of sales in its physical stores” with its most recent drop – with its NFTs selling out in just 50 minutes. The company also began accepting BTC pay in 2018.
- Nubank — Also reported by Cryptonews.com, this up-and-coming neobank has recently begun offering its customers trading access to a select number of cryptoassets – with a view to enabling a full rollout to all of its customers in the near future. Nubank will also move to invest 1% of its equity in a BTC purchase via its holding company Nu Holdings.
- Méliuz — This is a loyalty and cashback program provider that has taken a more indirect route into the crypto world – by snapping up Acesso Bank, the financial institution that carries out crypto exchange Binance-related transactions in Brazil.
- São Paulo FC — One of the biggest clubs in world football, this sporting powerhouse made history this week by becoming the first Brazilian team to accept crypto pay for match tickets at its iconic Morumbi Stadium. In a separate report, Exame noted that São Paulo would now accept BTC and “other cryptoassets” after a deal with the crypto exchange Bitso, which is also one of the club’s sponsors. The club will accept a range of exotic tokens – including the memecoins dogecoin (DOGE) and shiba inu (SHIB). Initially, only fan club members will be able to use crypto pay options, but this will likely soon be expanded to general sales, the media outlet explained.
Exame also pointed out that smaller firms are also very active in the crypto space. It made mention of startups including a cannabis firm, a maker of absorbent underwear, and yet another real estate firm – the latter of which is now doing a chunk of its business in the metaverse on Decentraland.
The media outlet further noted that a recent survey by the wallet provider CoinsPaid in the Latin America region showed that consumers have a “positive” attitude to companies that accept crypto as a form of payment.
Source: Cryptonews
