Mercado Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency and digital asset platform in Latin America, has partnered with Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) to participate in the development of Brazil’s CBDC (central bank digital currency).

According to an official release shared by the Stellar Foundation on May 24, Mercado Bitcoin will work on one of the nine projects promoted by the Laboratory of Financial and Technological Innovations of Brazil (LIFT), created to develop a “minimum viable product (MVP)” for a CBDC that meets the goals of the Brazilian government.

In this case, a “Minimum Viable Product” would be a CBDC solution functional enough to satisfy the minimum requirements set by the Central Bank of Brazil, providing the best possible product with the least possible effort.

The project is supported by the Central Bank of Brazil and the National Federation of Central Bank Servers Associations.

"Mercado Bitcoin selected the Stellar network because it is the network of choice for other CDBC projects, stablecoin issuance, and financial asset tokenization due to its unique combination of speed, efficiency, security, and compliance," the statement read.

Reinaldo Rabelo, CEO of Mercado Bitcoin, said, “We are in a consortium of companies that have the structure and ambition to build robust solutions for the financial market through blockchain technology. Utilizing the Stellar network will allow us to deliver a complete case for evaluation by the Central Bank," Rabelo said.

Denelle Dixon, CEO of Stellar Development Foundation, said, “Stellar was designed for asset issuance, and its built-in compliance tools give Mercado Bitcoin a strong foundation to develop a solution with the features that Bacen (Central Bank of Brazil) expects to see”

Mercado Bitcoin’s competitors include established names in the finance industry, such as Visa, Microsoft, Aave and ConsenSys.

This means that Brazil is looking forward to creating a CBDC that counts on the development of major financial and technological brands.

Representations of virtual cryptocurrencies are placed on U.S. Dollar banknotes in this illustration taken November 28, 2021.
Representations of virtual cryptocurrencies are placed on U.S. Dollar banknotes in this illustration taken November 28, 2021. Reuters / DADO RUVIC
RELATED STORIES