Ripple leads investment round in Mexican cryptocurrency exchange Bitso

Bitso, a cryptocurrency exchange based in Mexico, has recently raised funds from a number of major investors, including Ripple, Coinbase, and Jump Capital, to widen its reach in Latin America. Operating since 2014, Bitso was the first crypto exchange in Mexico. As per an investment announcement on Ripple’s blog, Bitso claims to serve more than 750,000 customers. 

No information was released on the full value of the investment. Asheesh Birla, Ripple's senior vice president of product management, announced he was joining Bitso's board. The investors are seeking to leverage Bitso's expansion into Latin America, provided the growth in remittance flows into the region. In Mexico alone, over $35.7 billion of remittance transactions are completed every year. Birla commented:

“Technologies like blockchain and digital assets could transform the remittance landscape by making it easier, quicker and cheaper to send money across borders. At Ripple, we are building new rails and working with our infrastructure partners to make this future a reality.”

He said that Bitso played a very important role in providing payments liquidity which helped Ripple to operate in Mexico, particularly its on-demand liquidity (ODL) capabilities launched earlier this year. Birla concluded: "As Ripple expands ODL in Latin America, so too will our partnership with Bitso."

He added:

“The company and team are well-positioned to execute a global expansion to LatAm, and we are excited to partner with them in this next phase of growth.”