2TM was worth $2.1 billion in July 2021, after its holding Mercado Bitcoin was awarded a $200 million investment by Softbank’s Latin America Fund.
2TM – The holding company of Brazil’s largest crypto-exchange, Mercado Bitcoin, laid off 15% of its workforce on Thursday. This is about 100 employees.
Second round of job cuts in one summer
CoinDesk also noted that foreign exchanges do not follow the same reporting and know your customer (KYC), standards as domestic ones.
2TM stated that “the competitive environment is still deteriorated, unfair, and lacking the approval of crypto-activities’ legal framework, as players who follow the law are punished by companies that disregard local rules.”
Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies is yet to vote on the crypto bill that was approved by the local Senate back in April. ABCripto, a group of domestic exchanges has requested that the Chamber of Deputies require exchanges to have an employer identification number before they can apply for a license to Brazil. This measure is opposed by overseas exchanges, Binance being one of them.
Another crypto-related company in Latin America that announced layoffs recently was crypto exchange Bitso Mercado Bitcoin’s main competitor in Brazil – and Argentina-based Buenbit, who slashed 45%.
In July 2021, Mercado Bitcoin raised \$200 million through a Series B round of funding. At the time, 2TM was valued at \$2.1 billion.
