Bitso Review 2027: Fees, Volume and Safety

Bitso was founded in Mexico City in 2014 by Ben Peters, Pablo Gonzalez and Daniel Vogel, who is chief executive. For several years it was simply the main place to trade bitcoin against the Mexican peso. In 2021 it raised a large funding round that made it the first crypto "unicorn" in Latin America, and it used the money to expand across the region.

The company reports around nine million customers. It has weathered the downturns of the sector with some staff reductions but without the crises that hit many competitors, and it says that it does not lend out customer assets without consent.

Retail. The Bitso app lets people buy, sell, hold and send crypto, earn yield on some assets and, in certain countries, make payments. Its users include investors and people who simply want to hold digital dollars in economies with weak currencies.

Business payments. Bitso Business provides companies with cross-border payments that use stablecoins and local payment rails. A firm in the United States can send dollars, which are converted and delivered as pesos to a Mexican bank account within minutes. Remittance companies, payment processors and exporters use the service. Bitso has stated that it handles billions of dollars a year in this corridor, around a tenth of all remittances between the two countries.

A subsidiary, Juno, issues a peso-backed stablecoin intended to make such payments more efficient.

The business side matters to retail customers because it gives the company a source of income that does not rely on speculative trading and because it deepens liquidity in peso markets.

• Instant conversion between local currency and crypto in the app.
• Bitso Alpha, the professional trading interface with an order book and charts.
• Earnings on balances, a programme that pays a return on stablecoins and some other assets.
• Digital dollars, meaning stablecoin balances that can be bought with local currency.
• Transfers between Bitso users at no cost, and international transfers via crypto.
• Local payments, including QR and instant-transfer systems, where available.

The coin list is moderate, a few dozen to around a hundred assets depending on the country. There is no retail leverage.

Bitso's main advantage is integration with domestic payment systems.

• In Mexico, deposits and withdrawals move through SPEI, the interbank transfer network, at any hour.
• In Brazil, it uses Pix, the instant payment system.
• In Argentina and Colombia, it connects to local bank transfers and wallets.

For users, this means that moving money between a bank account and the platform takes minutes and costs little or nothing.

A popular feature is the return paid on stablecoin balances. For people in countries with high inflation, earning a dollar-linked yield is attractive.

Understand the source of the return. It comes from deploying the assets, for example in lending or decentralised finance protocols, through arrangements the company manages. That introduces risks: the stablecoin issuer, the protocols or counterparties used, and Bitso itself. The rate is variable, and the product is not a bank deposit and carries no deposit insurance. Participation is optional. Decide what portion of your savings should carry these risks.

Individuals can use Bitso to receive money from abroad. A relative in the United States buys a stablecoin or uses a partner service, sends it to the recipient's Bitso account, and the recipient converts it to pesos and withdraws by SPEI. Costs can be much lower than with traditional money transfer operators, and delivery is fast.

The method requires some knowledge on the sender's side, and exchange-rate spreads apply at both ends. For families that send money regularly, it is worth comparing the total cost with conventional services.

Registration is done in the app and requires identity verification with an official document. Limits rise with the level of verification. Residents of the supported countries can fund accounts in local currency immediately.

Support is provided in Spanish and Portuguese through chat and email. The app is polished and performs well on modest phones, which matters in its markets.

Bitso is a strong choice for residents of Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia who want to buy and hold major cryptocurrencies or digital dollars through a platform with reliable local payments. It also suits families receiving remittances and businesses with cross-border payment needs.

Active traders focused on low fees and a huge coin list will find global exchanges cheaper.

In Brazil, Mercado Bitcoin is the main local competitor and has a larger share of the domestic market. Binance has many users across the region and lower trading fees, with less integration into local regulation in some countries. Regional fintech apps and banks have also begun to offer crypto. Bitso's edge lies in payments infrastructure, especially between the United States and Mexico.

• Use Bitso Alpha with limit orders for larger trades.
• Check the spread on instant conversions against the market price.
• Enable two-factor authentication.
• Keep records for tax purposes; reporting rules have tightened across the region.
• Be sceptical of anyone offering "investments" that require you to send crypto.