E-Commerce Giant Mercadolibre Buys Bitcoins Worth $7.8 Million for Treasury

Mercadolibre Inc., Latin America’s leading e-commerce company with almost 70 million users on its marketplace, has bought bitcoins worth almost $8 million for its treasury. With this move, the company has joined a growing list of corporations with the cryptocurrency on their balance sheets.

Mercadolibre Holds Bitcoin on Balance Sheet

Mercadolibre Inc. reported its first-quarter financial results Wednesday declaring that the company is holding bitcoin on its balance sheet.

An Argentine company incorporated in the U.S. that operates online marketplaces dedicated to e-commerce and auctions, Mercadolibre is listed on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol MELI. As of Wednesday, its market cap was $76.3 billion.

The company’s filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) states:

As part of our treasury strategy this quarter we purchased $7.8 million in bitcoin, a digital asset that we are disclosing within our indefinite-lived intangible assets.

Last week, the Latin American e-commerce giant announced that its customers could buy real estate with bitcoin.

In its Q1 earnings report, Mercadolibre revealed that its net revenues for the first quarter were $1.4 billion, a year-over-year increase of 111.4% in USD and 158.4% on an FX neutral basis. However, overall its net loss was $34 million. As a company operating out of Argentina, Mercadolibre also incurred foreign currency losses worth $15.1 million.

The company says its unique active users grew by 61.6% year-over-year, reaching 69.8 million. Its gross merchandise volume grew to $6.1 billion and successful items sold reached 222 million. In addition, live listings offered on Mercadolibre’s marketplace reached 299.5 million.

With this bitcoin buy, the e-commerce giant joins a growing list of companies that have chosen to add BTC to their balance sheets, including Elon Musk’s Tesla, Jack Dorsey’s Square, and Microstrategy.

What do you think about Mercadolibre holding bitcoin in its treasury? Let us know in the comments section below.