Ripio issues stablecoins for six Latin American currencies, connecting local payment networks

Ripio has begun issuing stablecoins backed by the local currencies of six Latin American countries, using its financial licenses and banking connections to expand payment and foreign-exchange services.

The initiative covers Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Chile and Peru. It connects cryptocurrency services with domestic real-time payment networks through infrastructure Ripio has built across the region.

In an interview shared by the Bankless X account on November 9, Ripio co-founder and CEO Sebastian Serrano said the company had started issuing stablecoins for those local currencies. Licenses and banking relationships in each market support the initiative, he said.

Ripio began in 2013 as a Bitcoin wallet in Argentina before expanding across Latin America. Over the past five years, it has focused on providing cryptocurrency infrastructure to banks, fintech companies and e-commerce businesses. Serrano said roughly a decade of building that infrastructure had enabled the stablecoin issuance, which he described as a key component of cryptocurrency’s next phase.

Serrano cited its work supporting cryptocurrency services for Mercado Libre’s financial business, Mercado Pago. Ripio provides infrastructure for buying, holding and selling tokens and helped launch a token for its loyalty program. He said Ripio reaches about 35 million users through business partners and processes approximately 100–200 transactions per second. Most Argentine stockbrokers offering cryptocurrency also use its infrastructure, he added.

Local licenses provide access to real-time payment networks, Serrano said. Citing Brazil’s Pix, he described regional payment systems as inexpensive and instantaneous, supporting both bank transfers and QR-code payments. He argued that the region’s banking and payment infrastructure is strong despite currency weakness that he attributed to government policies.

Demand differs across markets. Serrano said Argentina, Venezuela and Bolivia have a greater need for currency exchange and protecting savings, while Brazilians tend to conduct financial activity in reais. Citing annual Brazilian bond yields of 13–15%, he said some Argentine users were buying Ripio’s Brazilian-currency stablecoin to pursue carry trades that exploit interest-rate differences.

Serrano said cryptocurrency is deeply integrated into everyday economic activity in Argentina and Venezuela. He recounted a friend paying a car reservation deposit in USDT as an example of stablecoins being used for transactions as well as savings. In countries such as Argentina, he said, protecting purchasing power is a stronger motivation for cryptocurrency use than speculation.