Crypto Exchange Bitso Launches Stablecoin Business, Eyeing LatAm Cross-Border Payments

Bitso, a crypto exchange focusing on Latin America, is entering the increasingly attractive stablecoin market as global adoption accelerates.

The company's business development unit, Bitso Business, has established Juno, a subsidiary dedicated to issuing and managing digital assets including stablecoins. Bitso Business also recently appointed Ben Reid as head of stablecoins to drive the firm's ambition in the stablecoin market.

The first token Juno issues is a fully-backed Mexican peso stablecoin (MXNB), aiming to facilitate cross-border payments and financial transactions between businesses across the region. The firm deployed the token on Ethereum layer-2 Arbitrum.

Stablecoins, now a nearly $230 billion asset class, have been one of the biggest success stories in crypto adoption. With prices pegged to an external asset, predominantly to fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar, they offer a cheaper and faster alternative to traditional financial rails for payments, remittances, savings and currency conversion. They are especially popular in developing countries with large unbanked populations or fragile local currencies. Meanwhile, regulations around the world are being laid down or advanced to fit stablecoins into the global financial system.

"Global companies face significant monetary challenges when it comes to serving customers in new markets and conducting cross-border payments, including high intermediary costs and inefficient transaction times," Bitso's Reid in a statement. "Stablecoins provide a fast, cost-effective and transparent fiat-pegged alternative and have been instrumental in expanding access to foreign markets and transforming payments worldwide.

"Juno's new MXNB stablecoin will help "global companies to do business in Latin America in a more efficient way," he added.

To support adoption of its stablecoin, Juno has rolled out the Juno Mint Platform, which provides APIs and tools for businesses to issue, redeem and convert MXNB. The service also enables fiat on- and off-ramps with Mexico’s SPEI banking system and stablecoin-to-stablecoin currency exchange.