Bitso was founded in Mexico in 2014. It is now legally present in Argentina Brazil El Salvador, Colombia, and El Salvador.
Bitso, the major Latin American cryptocurrency exchange and El Salvador’s crypto wallet assistant company, has officially launched in Colombia.
Cointelegraph was informed Thursday that Bitso has appointed Emilio Pardo, a former executive with Mastercard, as its new country manager.
Pardo was previously the head of business development in the Andean Region for Mastercard. He focused on fintech issues such as instant and cross-border transactions and open banking. Pardo will be responsible for Bitso’s strategy in Colombia, to increase crypto adoption and financial inclusion. He will also focus on Bitso’s strategic basics such as education and security.
Pardo said that Latin America is currently experiencing one of the most significant moments in cryptocurrency adoption. Colombia is no exception. He noted that the growing adoption of crypto will not only benefit Colombia’s financial system, but also educate and address the needs our customers and other citizens.
The Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia (or SFC) is Bitso's Colombian financial regulator. The announcement stated that Bitso was granted authorization by the SFC to operate within the regulatory framework of la Arenera in late 2021.
In this context, Bitso began to work in partnership with Colombia's first bank, Banco de Bogota in 2021 in order to test the exchange's products.
Pardo stated that Colombia is at the forefront in innovation and regulation because it has a regulated crypto platform. Pardo said that the crypto exchange is currently testing its products in a regulatory framework that considers the entire financial services ecosystem, including regulators, banks, and end users.
Related: Colombia cracks down on crypto tax avoidance as adoption flourishes
Bitso was founded in Mexico in 2014. It allows users to trade and buy cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. In recent years, Bitso has seen a rapid growth in its popularity. It expanded to Argentina in February 2020, and then entered Brazil in April 2021.
El Salvador also has an exchange, and officially adopted Bitcoin as a legal tender in September 2021. Silvergate and Bitso collaborated to facilitate transactions in United States dollars for El Salvador's official Bitcoin wallet (BTC), Chivo wallet.