Bitso and Circle Partner To Launch Cross-border Payments Tool Between Mexico and The U.S

Bitso, a Latin American crypto exchange giant, is partnering with the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin operator Circle to start a new cross-border payment tool between the United States and Mexico.

According to an announcement by Bitso on Thursday, the main aim of the integration is to offer the Mexican people, an alternative option of sending and receiving payments to or from the U.S.

Bitso Offers New Payment Tool

The new tool called Bitso Shift will be using cryptocurrency to facilitate fast and cheap cross-border payments that will be available round the clock. With this, users can exchange their Mexican pesos for the United States dollar (USD)-backed stablecoins in an instant.
Furthermore, this new offering will provide a more affordable and an even easier access to the USD for Mexican residents, thereby increasing the transparency of the country’s USD transactions in the process.

Going by the rule of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, Mexican citizens who do not hold any accounts are not permitted to deposit more than $300 daily, with a monthly limit of $1,500. But account holders can deposit a maximum of $4,000 monthly. According to reports however, there are presently no regulations regarding the transfer of U.S. dollars into or out of Mexico.

The Payment Process Explained

In the company’s announcement, Bitso says wire transfers to Bitso Shift will be processed within twenty-four to forty-eight hours through fully regulated institutions.

Also speaking about the collaboration, co-founder and CEO of Circle, Jeremy Allaire says this is a tremendous opportunity for Circle and USDC to be part of making cross-border exchanges hitch-free between the U.S. and Mexico.

Bitso co-founder and CEO Daniel Vogel also mentioned how the new offering will help Mexican freelancers and businesses by addressing some of the pertinent issues attached to the financial sector.

Founded in 2014, Bitso has gone on to become one of the biggest cryptocurrency platforms in Latin America. With backing from large crypto-based firms like Coinbase and Ripple, the exchange has seen its user base almost tripled from just a million in July 2020 to about 3 million users a year later.