2TM, parent company of Mercado Bitcoin in Brazil, has recently reduced its staff by about 15%. This is close to 100 people. According to the company, Brazilian companies are being disadvantaged by a lack in regulation.
2TM, parent company of Brazilian cryptocurrency exchange Mercado Bitcoin is laying off approximately 15% of its employees. This follows cuts that took place in June.
CoinDesk reported the news Sept. 1.
This is the latest round in a series of layoffs that has been taking place among Latin America-based cryptocurrency companies over recent months. Mexico’s Bitso crypto exchange announced that it would lay off 80 employees in May. Argentine exchange Buenbit also told The Block that the exchange had cut its staff from 215 employees to 115.
These job losses are due to a decline in crypto asset prices (including the Terra/Luna crash early this year), as well as an overall economic slowdown with inflation steadily increasing worldwide.
2TM also blamed Brazil’s lack of regulation for putting local crypto businesses at disadvantage.
2TM shared a statement with The Block that stated, “At 2TM we unified our brand and concluded the integrations of companies acquired 2021, seeking efficiency, and synergy.” “Even so,” 2TM said in a statement shared with The Block. They stated that despite the continued adversity in our economy, the environment is still unfair and deteriorating. Without the approval of the legal framework, players who follow local laws are punished.
Brazil’s Congress was supposed to have passed the long-awaited crypto regulation in April after the Senate approved. However, the bill is still awaiting approval by the lower house. It is unlikely that the bill will become law before October’s presidential election.
Parts of the senate bill were rejected
Two provisions from the Senate bill were rejected by Congressman Expedito Netto in July. One related to asset segregation and the other required foreign companies to register in Brazil as legal entities, Valor Economico reported.
Different opinions have been expressed by crypto companies about whether or not these provisions should be included and how.
Binance, which took steps to buy a Brazilian brokerage licensed by the country’s securities regulator in July, informed The Block that it supports regulation in Brazil as well as elsewhere. It believes that smaller companies will be adversely affected by the new regulations, even if they are not subject to adjustment.
The Senate bill was not clear enough in explaining how asset-segregation rules would be applied to different institutions. This created uncertainty.
Reinaldo Rabelo, CEO of Mercado Bitcoin, stated that crypto regulation in Brazil was “a fundamental and urgent” in July.
He said that standardization, when done right, is not a restriction but a guarantee of freedom and responsibility. It provides legal certainty, which stimulates innovation, investments, and entrepreneurship, strengthening the country’s position in the digital economy.
2TM raised $50m in its second closing for Series B in November. This followed a $200m closing in July from SoftBank Latin America Fund. In January, stated that it would be expanding into Europe through the Lisbon-based exchange CriptoLoja.
Rabelo, Mercado Bitcoin’s head of operations, told The Block that transactions reached more than 40 BRL (or $7.74 billion at the current exchange rate).
