Bitso, Mexican Crypto Exchange Expands To Colombia, Targets 1 Million Clients

JAKARTA - Mexican cryptocurrency exchange platform Bitso has started operations in Colombia. According to Bitso co-founder and Chief Executive Daniel Vogel, this will be their fourth marketplace, where they hope to amass 1 million clients just this month.

Bitso is one of a growing collection of Latin American "unicorns". A company with a capitalization of around USD 1 billion (IDR 14.5 trillion) and valued at around USD 2.2 billion (IDR 31.9 trillion) after a 2021 funding round in which they were able to raise an additional USD 250 million (IDR 3. 6 trillion).

Bitso will offer customers instant transfers via the PSE payment system, the sale of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ether, as well as the use of the new investment platform Bitso+. Bitso itself currently has 4 million subscribers in Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina.

"With our launch in Colombia, we hope to reach 5 million subscribers and we think we can do that this month," Vogel told Reuters.

"We see Colombia as a key market for us, which we are entering with this expansion plan from our product point of view, employing people (and) growing in the country. It's a very dynamic market in terms of cryptocurrencies," he added, although he declined to comment on this. say how much Bitso will invest in the Andean country.

Vogel, an economist and systems engineer who graduated from Stanford University, is ruling out more investment rounds in Bitso's near future.

"We are really focused on continuing to develop this business but for now there is no need to add more capital," he said.

Funds including Cometa, Pantera, Coinbase Ventures, QED Investors, Kaszek, Tiger Global, Coatue, and Bond have invested in Bitso to date.