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Crypto VC Investments in Latin America Grew Almost Tenfold in 2021 to $653M
Consumer-facing crypto exchanges and retail trading platforms received the majority of funding, according to the Association for Private Capital Investment in Latin America.

Venture capital investments in crypto and blockchain firms in Latin America reached $653 million in 2021, almost 10 times more than was invested in 2020, according to a report published by the Association for Private Capital Investment in Latin America (LAVCA).
Investments were concentrated in consumer-facing asset exchanges and retail trading platforms, which together captured $607 million.
Crypto investment in Latin America continued to boom compared with VC investments in crypto in the region that totaled just $68 million in 2020.
Globally, VC funding for blockchain startups reached $25.2 billion last year, up 713% from $3.1 billion in 2020, according to CB Insights’ “2021 State of Blockchain” report.
Bitso, a Mexican crypto exchange with operations in Argentina and Colombia, raised $250 million in May 2021 and became the first crypto unicorn in Latin America. The leading Brazilian crypto exchange, Mercado Bitcoin, raised a total of $290 million across three rounds and reached a $2.2 billion valuation.
Three Argentinian crypto exchanges also raised VC funding in 2021. In September, Ripio raised $50 million in a Series B funding round. And in August, Lemon Cash and Buenbit raised $16 million and $11 million, respectively.
Also in August, Kaszek, a leading Latin American venture capital fund, made its first decentralized finance (DeFi) investment, leading a $3 million round in Exactly, a startup that is building an open-source, noncustodial credit protocol on the Ethereum platform.
Overall, Latin American venture investments reached $15.7 billion in 2021, compared to $4.1 billion invested in 2020, according to LAVCA.
Andrés Engler
Andrés Engler is a CoinDesk editor based in Argentina, where he covers the Latin American crypto ecosystem. He follows the regional scene of startups, funds and corporations. His work has been featured in La Nación newspaper and Monocle magazine, among other media. He graduated from the Catholic University of Argentina. He holds BTC.
