On Monday, PicPay, a Brazil-based digital payments app, announced plans to launch a crypto exchange and a Brazilian real-tied stablecoin in 2022.
In a statement, the company said the exchange will offer bitcoin, ether and Paxos’ USDP stablecoin, adding that the development of its stablecoin will allow users to pay, transfer and store that cryptocurrency.
“PicPay will enter the crypto market to lead its popularization not only as an investment, but also as a way to decentralize payments and other financial services,” said Anderson Chamon, vice president of technology and products at PicPay in a statement.
Founded in 2012 as a digital wallet, The company was later converted into a payments app offering a financial marketplace, among other services. The platform has 30 million active users with more than 65 million users.
The company has also established a dedicated crypto business unit, Chamon said, adding that it plans on hiring new crypto and Web3 talent to join that team.
According to PicPay, the retail crypto market “is already very large in Brazil,” evidenced by the fact that investors double the number of stock investors, the company said based on a survey conducted by local media outlet G1.
Despite the drop in the crypto market, The company added that its technological proposition will still be the same. “We believe that cryptocurrencies will grow again as new ways of using them appear and become commonplace,” it said.
PicPay enters into the crypto market following that of other major fintech players in Brazil.
Nubank, the largest Brazilian digital bank by market value, added the choice for customers to buy and sell bitcoin and ether on its platform in May. In the meantime, Mercado Libre, Latin America’s largest e-commerce company by market value, allowed users in Brazil to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies in December.
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