Updated:
Ripio
Ripio launched in 2014 as BitPagos, an Argentine crypto startup founded by Sebastian Serrano, focused initially on bitcoin payments for e-commerce.
Ripio
Ripio launched in 2014 as BitPagos, an Argentine crypto startup founded by Sebastian Serrano, focused initially on bitcoin payments for e-commerce. By 2016, the company pivoted to brokerage services and rebranded to Ripio, seizing on accelerating retail adoption across inflation-racked Argentina and unbanked populations throughout Latin America. The firm has raised over $50 million in venture capital across multiple rounds, with backers including Digital Currency Group, Pantera Capital, and Amplo (per Crunchbase, 2022). Ripio is not a family office, but its evolution into an asset manager with an OTC desk, institutional custody, and a yield-earning product demonstrates a regional fintech scaling beyond a simple exchange. Ripio operates a multi-product platform serving both retail and institutional clients. The retail offering spans spot trading, a digital wallet, and 'Ripio Earn,' a lending product that generates yield on crypto deposits by deploying capital across DeFi protocols and institutional lending markets. The institutional arm, Ripio Select, provides OTC trading, algorithmic execution, and custody for corporate treasuries, family offices, and funds seeking Latin American fiat on- and off-ramps. The firm's deep integration with local payment rails in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico allows it to act as a critical bridge between regional currencies like the Argentine peso and digital assets. The company also launched a tokenized credit product in Brazil and operates a Web3 wallet, broadening its reach into decentralized finance. Ripio reports a user base exceeding 10 million, with a licensed footprint covering Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Uruguay, and Spain. Headcount exceeds 400 employees across its offices. In March 2024, Ripio integrated with Brazil's Pix instant payment system, allowing real-time fiat-to-crypto transactions for its Brazilian users (per the firm, 2024). The firm also launched a Visa-backed crypto card in Brazil in 2023, extending its utility into everyday spending. Ripio's structural differentiator is its full-stack licensing and payments infrastructure across fragmented Latin American markets, allowing it to operate as a regulated broker in jurisdictions where international exchanges have struggled. While global competitors rely on third-party processors, Ripio holds its own proprietary connections to local banking systems, giving it a durable moat in a region with chronic capital controls and currency instability.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2013
Location
Region
Latin America
Country
Argentina
City
Buenos Aires
Corporate office
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Additional offices
São Paulo, Brazil · Mexico City, Mexico · Miami, FL, United States · Montevideo, Uruguay · Bogotá, Colombia · Santiago, Chile
Principals
Sebastián Serrano
Co-Founder & CEO
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Ripio?
Ripio is an operating company and cryptocurrency platform, not an asset manager deploying third-party capital. Strategic decisions are driven by Co-Founder and CEO Sebastián Serrano, who has led the firm since its 2013 founding. The company does not disclose a separate investment committee structure; product expansion, geographic licensing, and venture fundraising are managed by Serrano and the executive team from Buenos Aires.
How does Ripio generate revenue?
Ripio generates revenue through trading fees on its retail exchange, spreads on its institutional OTC desk, lending interest from crypto-backed loans, interchange fees from its branded Visa card, and management fees on its Ripio Select wealth product. The firm does not publicly break out revenue by segment. OTC volumes and retail trading activity in high-inflation jurisdictions like Argentina represent the core business engines.
Is Ripio regulated in the jurisdictions where it operates?
Ripio holds exchange licenses or regulatory permissions in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, Colombia, and Chile, and registered as a Money Services Business in Florida in 2024. Each entity operates under the local digital-asset regulatory framework, which varies significantly by country. The firm's compliance infrastructure includes dedicated regional teams that maintain banking relationships and submit to local anti-money-laundering requirements.
Does Ripio custody customer assets, or are they self-custodied?
Ripio offers both custodial exchange wallets for funds held on its platform and a self-custody wallet for users who wish to hold their own private keys. Institutional clients and the OTC desk typically rely on Ripio's custodial infrastructure. The firm has not disclosed custodial partners or cold-storage arrangements publicly, and custody practices are subject to the regulatory requirements of each operating jurisdiction.
What is Ripio's relationship with Mercado Libre?
Ripio partnered with Mercado Libre in 2021 to integrate cryptocurrency trading into Mercado Pago, the fintech arm of the e-commerce giant. The integration allows Mercado Pago users in Brazil to buy, hold, and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum directly through the Mercado Pago wallet, using Ripio's backend infrastructure. The agreement positions Ripio as the white-label crypto engine embedded within the largest digital payments ecosystem in Latin America (per the firm, 2021).
Has Ripio launched a token or digital currency?
Ripio has not issued its own protocol token but has launched a blockchain-based product called Ripio Credit Network (RCN), a decentralized credit protocol designed to connect lenders and borrowers globally using Ethereum smart contracts. The RCN token was offered via an initial coin offering in 2017. The protocol operates independently of Ripio's core exchange business and has a distinct governance structure (public record).
Does Ripio maintain separate philanthropic or venture structures?
Ripio has not disclosed a separate philanthropic foundation. The firm operates a corporate venture arm, Ripio Ventures, which deploys capital into early-stage Web3 startups across Latin America. Ripio Ventures functions as a strategic investment vehicle to expand the ecosystem around Ripio's core exchange and payment infrastructure, rather than a passive LP fund (per the firm, 2022).
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
Need institutional-grade insight on asset managers?
Altss delivers:
Prefer a guided tour?
We’ll walk you through: