Mercado Pago Enters Dollar Market with Investment-Enabled Virtual Wallet

The Mercado Pago virtual wallet has enabled the purchase of dollars. It can be operated during extended hours, and funds are invested to generate returns.

Starting Monday, fintech company Mercado Pago enabled the ability to trade with the official dollar on its app, adding to the foreign exchange market transactions traditionally dominated by banks.

Mercado Pago now offers extended-hour dollar trading, low-risk investment options, and seamless transfers—challenging banks and transforming user savings habits

The virtual wallet launched the option to enable the account for buying, selling, and investing dollars on July 28th, 2025. The initial trading price is $1,292.96 for purchases and $1,292.58 for sales.

The US currency can be purchased directly from the app during extended business hours (4 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays), with immediate crediting and the option to deposit dollars from your own or third-party accounts to generate returns.

In this regard, the fintech company clarified that “dollars, whether purchased through the platform or transferred from other accounts, are invested in a Mutual Investment Fund (FCI) that offers daily returns and is freely available.”

He also specified that “this low-risk instrument, managed by Industrial Asset Management and held in custody by Banco Industrial (BIND), is 100% digital and offers an estimated annual interest rate of 2.4% (average over the last 30 days).”

In this way, Mercado Pago joins fintech companies like Uala and Cocos, which already competed with banks in the purchase and sale of dollars, representing a new step in the dispute between the two sectors.

In highlighting the opening of the dollar market, the virtual wallet cited its own survey, which showed that “6 out of 10 users surveyed choose purchasing dollars as their preferred way to save, and half stated that before using Mercado Pago, they didn’t invest their dollars or simply kept them in cash.”

In this way, they emphasized that “these new solutions seek to transform that financial behavior by providing a solution that allows them to generate returns in a simple way.”

Regarding this, Mercado Pago’s Senior Vice President for Latin America, Alejandro Melhem, stated that “as was the case with daily earnings in pesos, we believe that users will gradually adopt this habit for their dollar balances and thus earn more.”

Users can use their dollars at any time: keep them invested, send them to other Mercado Pago users, or transfer them to accounts they own. Additionally, the app allows users to schedule off-hours purchases, which are executed at the start of the following business day. The new features will be progressively enabled for all users.

__

(Featured image by Viacheslav Bublyk via Unsplash)

DISCLAIMER: This article was written by a third party contributor and does not reflect the opinion of Born2Invest, its management, staff or its associates. Please review our disclaimer for more information.

This article may include forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words “believe,” “project,” “estimate,” “become,” “plan,” “will,” and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks as well as uncertainties, including those discussed in the following cautionary statements and elsewhere in this article and on this site. Although the Company may believe that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, the actual results that the Company may achieve may differ materially from any forward-looking statements, which reflect the opinions of the management of the Company only as of the date hereof. Additionally, please make sure to read these important disclosures.

First published in El Comercial. A third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.

Although we made reasonable efforts to provide accurate translations, some parts may be incorrect. Born2Invest assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions or ambiguities in the translations provided on this website. Any person or entity relying on translated content does so at their own risk. Born2Invest is not responsible for losses caused by such reliance on the accuracy or reliability of translated information. If you wish to report an error or inaccuracy in the translation, we encourage you to contact us.