The Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission summons the Mercado Bitcoin exchange

Various cryptocurrencies on the table

The Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) has sent a subpoena to the Mercado Bitcoin exchange, to inquire about the services offered by the company regarding fixed-return investments related to cryptocurrency.

The company will have to disclose details of these investments and whether it plans to keep them available to the general public.

This subpoena inquires about the services offered via the Tokens section of Mercado Bitcoin's web page, which, according to the commission, provides a way for clients to diversify their portfolio with supposedly low risk and high return in different regions.

These tokens are available to clients with more than a certain number of stablecoins, which ostensibly provide a higher return than regular savings products in the short term.

Details of the Mercado Bitcoin Subpoena

The identity verification mechanism requires certain basic information about how these tokens work. Mercado Bitcoin will have to provide details on the number and identities of customers who have invested in these products since January 2020.

In addition, Mercado Bitcoin will have to announce whether it intends to continue offering these token products in the future. If this happens, the company could face penalties if CVM determines that the products are irregular.

However, Mercado Bitcoin, which is one of the largest exchanges in the country, stresses that it does not offer irregular services. The company said in a statement:

“We do not publicly offer securities outside our mandates as an approved crowdfunding and investment management platform.”

In the same way, the company made it clear that it is taking utmost care not to infringe on the scope of the work of the licensors, and that the company has received advice on the structure of these tokens before launching products in 2020.

This is the latest issue the exchange has faced this year, as the company has implemented two different layoffs, the first in June and the last one carried out earlier this month.

Mercado Bitcoin, which raised $200 million in 2021 in its Series B funding round, backed by Softbank Softbank, is worth noting, achieving a valuation of more than $2 billion.