According to Bloomberg, the CEO of Latin American crypto exchange Ripio predicts a future where corporations will increasingly use digital currencies, alongside a core following of retail investors. He anticipates that in the coming years, companies will begin to finance themselves with crypto through security token offerings.
After a deep bear market in the past two years, cryptocurrencies are experiencing a surge in 2024, with investors celebrating the US approval of Bitcoin ETFs. In Latin America, Brazilian importers are already paying Chinese suppliers with crypto, and some Argentine companies are using it as a hedge against triple-digit inflation. Cryptocurrencies are also gaining a share of remittance transactions between the US and Mexico.
Ripio, based in Buenos Aires, has grown to over 10 million users and operates in eight countries in the Americas and Europe, including Brazil, the US, and Spain. The company's over 1,000 business clients include e-commerce giants. Retail trading, boosted by the crypto rally, is expected to generate most of Ripio's revenue this year, up from about 40% in 2023. However, Ripio plans to reduce its dependence on unpredictable retail-trading revenues by introducing new payment and tokenization products for businesses.
Ripio also intends to launch new savings and loan products for retail clients to decrease revenue volatility. If corporate adoption occurs as predicted, businesses could account for as much as 80% of revenue by the end of the decade.
Argentines have embraced cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, due to years of rampant inflation and strict limits on the purchase of US dollars. However, this uptake is threatened by President Javier Milei's pledge to lift currency controls and dollarize the economy once the central bank pays down its peso-denominated debts. Despite this, the CEO of Ripio remains skeptical that Argentine companies that have adopted crypto will abandon it after currency controls are lifted. He believes that while the rate of adoption may slow, companies will continue to seek ways to improve costs and time, and this technology is superior to traditional payment methods.