Roberto Dagnoni, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of 2TM Group, announced that Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp has invested $200 million in Mercado Bitcoin, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in Latin America.
The investment was made during the exchange’s Series B funding round, through SoftBank Latin America Fund. It now represents the largest investment in a Latin American crypto company made by a Japanese multinational company.
2TM claimed that with this latest business decision they have made, they were able to up their valuation to $2.1 billion.
Unfazed by the negative trend
The investment of SoftBank Capital came at a time when investor sentiment on cryptocurrency is leaning on the negative side in the face of regulatory crackdowns enforced in China, Britain and Japan, leading to outflows from crypto investment products and funds that were observed for the last few weeks.
But even with this bearish indication, Dagnoni remains unfazed and continues to hold on to his faith on cryptocurrency despite the collective slump they have been experiencing for quite some time now.
In fact, during a phone interview with Reuters, the 2TM chief executive reiterated his trust in the nascent digital asset class. He said, “We are strong believers in the fundamentals of crypto.”
Funds for scaling operations
In a statement, 2TM said Mercado Bitcoin will utilize the funds it raised during its funding round in scaling its operations and expanding its offerings. Moreover, the exchange will also “invest in infrastructure to meet rising demand for crypto in the region.”
During his interview, Dagnoni also said, “The platform is quite integrated. So custody is very important in releasing the power of the institutional market.”
The executive chairman also said that they are looking at regional expansions in Latin America as well as expansions through mergers and acquisitions.
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