Mercado Bitcoin places $20M of tokenized private credit on Bitcoin sidechain, targets $100M pipeline

Mercado Bitcoin has begun routing tokenized private credit through Rootstock, marking a deliberate extension of its multichain tokenization plan that also contemplates Stellar and the XRP Ledger. The initial tranche exceeded $20 million in deployed tokens and, according to company commentary, reached its allocation rapidly, bolstering confidence that a $100 million issuance goal can be met within weeks. The securities are a mix of receivables and corporate debt, and the issuer confirmed that not all underlying borrowers are domestic — at least one issuance backs an American company. By anchoring the structures to Bitcoin’s sidechain, Mercado Bitcoin is offering investors a way to obtain debt exposure secured or settled within the Bitcoin ecosystem, while still drawing on local credit origination in Latin America. RWA monitoring data places Mercado Bitcoin among the top 10 private‑credit token issuers globally, with more than $370 million in cumulative loans across its programs, though it remains distant from market leaders whose individual programs exceed several billion dollars. The firm emphasized that its tokenization workflow and investor offering were created inside Brazil’s supervisory perimeter, leveraging licenses and oversight from the securities and central bank authorities to align with local compliance requirements. The move fits into a broader regional pattern: other Latin American platforms are experimenting with onchain yield instruments and tokenized currency exposures in response to tight credit markets and investor demand for higher yields. From a product standpoint, tokenized private credit can widen the investor base for regional debt but also shifts traditional credit risks into programmable rails, introducing new operational and smart‑contract considerations. For international buyers, the attraction is twofold — access to Latin American yield pools and settlement or custody models that reference Bitcoin or other blockchains. Regulatory clarity remains a gating factor; Mercado Bitcoin is engaging with supervisors to help shape more explicit rules that would support broader issuance and secondary liquidity. If the $100 million ambition is met, it will validate the firm’s multichain approach and could accelerate competitive tokenization efforts across the region. Yet the company’s relative scale versus global incumbents suggests this is an expansion play rather than an immediate challenge to the largest RWA platforms. Execution risks — credit quality, legal enforceability across jurisdictions, custody arrangements and integration between ledgers — will determine whether tokenized private credit becomes a durable funding channel or a niche distribution tactic. For now, the initiative signals growing institutionalization of onchain credit products in Latin America, with Bitcoin‑anchored rails playing a pragmatic role in attracting offshore demand.