Mercado Bitcoin

Mercado Bitcoin is Brazil's oldest and largest cryptocurrency exchange, founded in São Paulo in 2013. It serves over 3.8 million registered users across Latin America, making it the dominant fiat on-ramp for Brazilians seeking access to digital assets including Solana. The platform operates exclusively in Brazilian Real (BRL) and restricts registration to Brazilian residents with a valid CPF (individual taxpayer number) or CNPJ (business registration number).

Regulatory Standing and Oversight

Mercado Bitcoin holds an authorization from Brazil's Central Bank (Banco Central do Brasil) as a payment institution, giving it one of the most concrete regulatory bases of any crypto exchange in Latin America. Its custodial operations are audited by Ernst & Young (EY), one of the Big Four accounting firms. The exchange enforces mandatory two-factor authentication, maintains the majority of client assets in air-gapped cold storage, and runs AML/KYC checks on all accounts in compliance with Brazilian financial regulations.

Assets and Trading

The platform lists over 200 cryptocurrencies for spot trading against BRL pairs. Coverage spans Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and major altcoins alongside DeFi tokens, fan tokens from football clubs, and an NFT marketplace. All deposits are free and settle instantly via PIX — Brazil's real-time payment network — as well as through TED and DOC bank transfers. Standard trading fees sit at 0.30% maker and 0.70% taker, with volume-based tiers dropping as low as 0.015% maker and 0.25% taker for high-frequency traders. Withdrawals carry no platform-side fee.

Solana on Mercado Bitcoin

SOL is available for spot trading in BRL pairs on the platform. Beyond trading, Mercado Bitcoin offers SOL staking directly within the exchange at approximately 4.45% annual return, with staking rewards distributed to users every three days. This makes it one of the few regulated exchanges in Latin America where retail users can earn SOL yield through a licensed, locally audited custodian without managing a wallet or validator delegation independently. Other supported staking assets include Ethereum (approximately 2.4% APY) and select altcoins.

Mercado Bitcoin's January 2026 market outlook projected Solana ETFs to attract roughly $1.09 billion in new institutional inflows during 2026, reflecting the exchange's view that SOL is consolidating as a tier-one institutional asset alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Tokenized Real-World Assets

One of MB's most distinctive capabilities is its inventory of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs). Alongside cryptocurrencies, the platform hosts tokenized bonds, commodities, and real-estate-linked products denominated in BRL. In July 2025, Mercado Bitcoin announced plans to tokenize $200 million in fixed-income and equity instruments on the XRP Ledger as part of an accelerated push into institutional-grade digital securities.

This RWA vertical positions MB not just as a crypto exchange but as a digital capital markets venue for Brazilian investors. Fixed-yield tokenized instruments are particularly appealing in Brazil, where high domestic interest rates make fixed-income products a primary savings vehicle. The ability to hold tokenized bonds alongside SOL and BTC in a single regulated account is a differentiated value proposition for retail investors who might otherwise keep those allocations in separate institutions.

Financial Super App Strategy

In October 2025, Mercado Bitcoin publicly articulated an "invisible blockchain" strategy — a pivot toward building a full financial super app where the underlying blockchain infrastructure is abstracted away from end users. The expanded service set includes crypto-backed lending (collateralized loans secured against BTC, ETH, SOL, and other assets), digital fixed-income products with stated yields, payments infrastructure, and remittances.

The MB One advisory service, launched in 2025, adds a personalized wealth management layer: it is positioned as Brazil's first crypto-native customer advisory platform, offering professional asset management guidance and strategic insights for users navigating the expanding digital asset landscape.

An API integration layer allows institutional clients and businesses to connect programmatically to MB's liquidity and custody infrastructure.

Team and Background

Mercado Bitcoin was founded in 2013, predating most of its global competitors. It is headquartered in São Paulo and is part of 2TM Group, a Brazilian fintech conglomerate. It has survived multiple market cycles, regulatory transitions including Brazil's evolving Central Bank licensing regime, and the broader industry volatility that eliminated many of its peers.

Limitations and Scope

Mercado Bitcoin is a Brazil-only platform by design. Non-Brazilians cannot complete verification. The interface is predominantly in Portuguese, with limited English or Spanish support. There is no derivatives or futures trading — the platform focuses on spot and yield products. Customer support does not offer live chat, operating instead through ticket and email channels.

These constraints are a direct function of its regulatory posture: maintaining a licensed payment institution status under Brazilian law means accepting the compliance requirements that come with it, including the CPF/CNPJ gating that excludes international users.

Solana Ecosystem Fit

For Solana, Mercado Bitcoin functions as one of the primary regulated gateways for the Brazilian market — a country with among the highest crypto adoption rates in Latin America. Users who acquire SOL through Mercado Bitcoin can trade it against BRL with deep local liquidity, stake it directly within the exchange for yield, and hold it alongside tokenized Brazilian financial instruments in a single regulated account. As Brazil's institutional crypto infrastructure matures and Solana ETF products become more widely available, MB's position as the dominant regulated venue in the country makes it a meaningful distribution channel for SOL exposure across millions of Brazilian retail and institutional investors.