Mercado Libre’s Crypto Experiment Goes Down the Drain: Mercado Coin Bites the Dust

by

Finance

What to know:

  • Mercado Libre is pulling the plug on its not-so-popular cryptocurrency, Mercado Coin, almost four years after launching it to “engage” customers.
  • From April 17, you can no longer buy, sell, or earn cashback with Mercado Coin-but don’t worry, you can still sell it, use it for credits, or just watch it turn into your local currency.
  • The shutdown is part of a larger trend of tech giants rethinking their dabble into branded digital tokens, though Mercado Libre isn’t giving up on crypto completely-it still loves stablecoin transfers and holds a cool $38 million in Bitcoin.

Well, well, well. The e-commerce giant Mercado Libre (MELI) is officially pulling the plug on its bright-eyed, bushy-tailed crypto experiment-Mercado Coin. This revolutionary currency, designed to make users feel like they’re part of an exclusive club, lasted a mere four years. Time flies when your token doesn’t exactly take off.

In a highly underwhelming announcement via an email from Mercado Pago (its digital wallet), Mercado Libre has decided that, as of April 17, users won’t be able to buy, sell, or earn cashback in Mercado Coin. Basically, it’s game over for the once-promising digital asset. But hey, they’ve made sure there are still options for you to cry over your now-useless tokens:

1. Sell your Mercado Coins and pray that they still have any value.

2. Spend them as purchase credits and pretend you didn’t waste your time on them.

3. Let Mercado Libre convert them to your local currency and watch them go back to being… well, just money. Real, tangible money. A concept we all understand.

Originally launched in Brazil back in August 2022 (because Brazil is the testing ground for all things crypto, obviously), Mercado Coin was supposed to reward users for buying things. But we all know how that story ends. It was built on Ethereum’s ERC-20 standard, so at least it had some ‘street cred’-kind of like that one friend who’s always talking about their cool new hobby but never actually follows through.

The app was all set up for success, offering rewards and token incentives for purchases. But now, the great Mercado Coin experiment is coming to an end, leaving users with the same questions they had in 2022: “What was the point of all this again?”

And here’s the plot twist: Mercado Libre isn’t completely abandoning crypto. Oh no, it’s just rethinking its entire strategy. They’re still going strong with stablecoin transfers and token trading via Mercado Pago. Plus, they have $38 million in Bitcoin on their balance sheet. No big deal, right?

So, goodbye Mercado Coin. We hardly knew ye.

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2026-03-31 17:59