SÃO PAULO, Brazil – In a significant move for Latin American digital finance, the digital asset platform Mercado Bitcoin announced plans on Friday to tokenize more than $200 million in real-world assets on the XRP Ledger blockchain. The initiative, supported by blockchain technology firm Ripple, aims to transform traditional financial instruments into digital tokens, enhancing liquidity and accessibility for investors in South America and Europe.
According to a blog post from Ripple, the assets slated for tokenization include a variety of fixed income and equity income instruments. This effort represents one of the most substantial tokenization projects undertaken by a Latin American financial institution on the XRP Ledger, a public blockchain specifically designed for digitizing real-world assets.
Ripple, a key contributor to the XRP Ledger, is providing technical support for Mercado Bitcoin’s integration. “Across Latin America, we’re seeing forward-looking institutions explore how tokenization can improve access and efficiency in financial markets,” said Silvio Pegado, Ripple’s managing director for the region. He noted that the partnership demonstrates “how public blockchain infrastructure is being trusted by institutions” for launching regulated financial products.
Mercado Bitcoin is already recognized as one of the top five global platforms for tokenizing private credit assets. With this expansion onto the XRP Ledger, the company aims to broaden its market reach and bolster support for global liquidity, particularly for regulated digital financial products.
The tokenization of real-world assets, often called RWAs, is an emerging trend reshaping traditional capital markets. By converting assets like bonds or equity into digital tokens on a blockchain, companies can automate processes, reduce transaction costs, and speed up settlement times. This technology can also make assets that are typically difficult to sell quickly, such as private credit, much easier to trade on secondary markets.
This move by Mercado Bitcoin is part of a growing trend of financial institutions adopting the XRP Ledger for asset tokenization. Earlier this year, Ondo Finance announced it would bring its tokenized U.S. Treasuries to the platform, while stablecoin firm Schuman Financial integrated its euro-backed coin, highlighting the blockchain’s appeal for combining global reach with compliant financial products.
