Coinbase may reportedly be buying the largest crypto exchange in Latin America

• Talks between 2TM and Coinbase have reportedly piqued Binance’s interest in the region as well.
  
• 2TM is already valued at $2.2 billion and is said to be the largest crypto exchange in the Latin American region.
  
• 2TM itself has acquired a host of other crypto exchanges in the region.

American crypto exchange Coinbase is extending its global acquisition strategy to Brazil. According to a report by Brazilian daily Estado, the company is set to acquire a company called 2TM, which is the parent company of Mercado Bitcoin — said to be the largest crypto exchange in the Latin American region.

Coinbase’s acquisition of the platform could provide a strong reach in the Latin American and Portuguese-speaking markets. The company, which is reportedly valued at $2.2 billion, had acquired Lisbon-based crypto exchange CriptoLoja in January, along with others. It is also the holding company for other firms like Meubank, MB Digital Assets, Blockchain Academy, MezaPro, Wuzu, and more.

Coinbase and Binance are considered to be the two largest crypto exchanges in the world, both in terms of trading and user volumes. Both have also taken steps to expand their footprints to the rest of the world by acquiring and investing in large exchanges elsewhere. The Estado report stated that talks between Coinbase and 2TM have caught Binance’s attention as well, and the Chinese crypto giant is also looking to expand into the Latin American market.

Binance’s interest in the region isn’t particularly new either. The company introduced peer-to-peer trading for Brazilian Real (BRL), Argentine Peso (ARS), Colombian Peso (COP), Mexican Peso (MXN), and Peruvian Sol (PEN) back in 2018.

“Latin America is one of the most active regions for cryptocurrency trading, and peer-to-peer trading is widely used in the Latin American community,” Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, said at the time. “To better serve our users’ large demand for crypto, we are offering an open marketplace with the best P2P trading experience.”

Coinbase Ventures, the investing arm of Coinbase has also invested in CoinSwitch Kuber and CoinDCX, two of the largest crypto exchanges in India, last year. Binance, on the other hand, had acquired the country’s largest crypto exchange by trading volumes, WazirX, in April 2021. Coinbase also acquired Indian customer support platform Agara in November last year.
SEE ALSO:
Bitcoin investors in Asia are selling, while the EU and US are busy ‘buying the dip’
Classplus is now among the highest valued edtech startups outside of the unicorn club