Ripio

Ripio is one of Latin America's oldest and largest cryptocurrency platforms, operating continuously since 2013 when it launched in Buenos Aires as BitPagos, a Bitcoin payment processor. The company rebranded and expanded into a full-service crypto exchange and financial infrastructure business under the Ripio name, growing to serve more than ten million registered users across Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Uruguay, Spain, and the United States.

Founding and Team

Ripio was co-founded by Sebastian Serrano, Luciana Gruszeczka, and Mugur Marculescu. Serrano serves as CEO and has become one of the most prominent voices for crypto adoption in Latin America, appearing at events including DevConnect 2025 in Buenos Aires and the World Economic Forum.

Core Products

Exchange and App. The Ripio App is the platform's primary retail interface, available on iOS and Android. It supports spot trading across more than 35 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, and Solana (SOL). Users can buy and sell SOL directly against Argentine pesos and other local fiat currencies. The app carries a 4.3 rating on the Apple App Store from over 8,000 reviews and a 4.7 rating on Google Play from over 51,000 reviews.

Ripio Card. A Visa-branded crypto debit card allows users to spend their cryptocurrency balances at any Visa merchant. The card offers 2% cashback and converts holdings at point of sale.

Ripio Earn. A DeFi-integrated yield product that allows users to generate returns on idle crypto holdings, including SOL. The service abstracts DeFi protocol interactions, making yield farming accessible without direct on-chain experience.

OTC Desk. Ripio operates an over-the-counter trading desk offering personalized rates for larger transactions, targeting institutional clients and high-net-worth individuals.

Crypto as a Service. The B2B API product allows businesses to integrate cryptocurrency functionality into their own applications using Ripio's infrastructure and liquidity, including tokenization capabilities.

Ripio Launchpad. A token launch platform for token distribution events. Ripio also operates Ripio Ventures, an investment arm backing early-stage Web3 startups across the region.

Local Stablecoins and Tokenized Assets

One of Ripio's most distinctive initiatives is its suite of local-currency stablecoins, each pegged one-to-one to regional fiat currencies:

• wARS — pegged to the Argentine peso
• wBRL — pegged to the Brazilian real
• wMXN — pegged to the Mexican peso

Ripio also issued a tokenized version of Argentina's AL30 sovereign bond, which traded more than one million units during Argentina's October 2025 elections. These assets are deployed on Ethereum mainnet, Base, and World Chain. CEO Serrano has described the local stablecoin strategy as critical infrastructure for enabling DeFi lending across Latin America.

LaChain

Ripio co-developed LaChain, a Layer 2 blockchain built for Latin American use cases. LaChain was originally launched as an independent chain and subsequently migrated to the ZKsync Elastic Network, making it a ZK rollup with full Ethereum Virtual Machine compatibility and lower transaction costs. LaChain is positioned for dApp development targeting regional needs: stablecoin payments, decentralized identity, cross-border remittances, and DeFi.

Regulatory Standing

Ripio holds licenses and registrations across every market in which it operates:

• Argentina: Registered as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (PSAV numbers 36 and 37) and with the Comision Nacional de Valores (CNV).
• Brazil: Registered as a Virtual Asset Platform operator.
• Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay: Local operating entities registered in each jurisdiction.
• United States (Florida): Money Transmitter License FT230000427.
• Spain: Registered with the Banco de Espana under reference D845.

Security and Audits

Ripio stores 95% of user deposits in cold storage, holds a SOC 2 Type II certification, and has been audited by EY, PwC, and KPMG. It has also undergone an independent security review by Hacken. Multi-factor authentication, biometric authentication, and a Proof of Reserves system are all in place.

Corporate Treasury

In November 2025, CEO Serrano disclosed that Ripio holds a cryptocurrency treasury valued at more than 100 million USD, composed of Bitcoin and Ether accumulated since 2017 through trading activity and hedging strategies. This makes Ripio's corporate treasury the second-largest publicly disclosed crypto treasury in Latin America.

Solana Ecosystem Fit

Ripio's connection to the Solana ecosystem is primarily as a regulated retail on-ramp and off-ramp for SOL in Latin America. The platform allows users in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and Chile to buy and sell SOL directly against local currencies — a functionally important gateway given the limited availability of licensed fiat-to-SOL paths in the region. Ripio also surfaces DeFi yield opportunities on SOL holdings, connecting retail users to Solana-native protocols without requiring them to manage wallets directly.