Mercado Bitcoin, Brazil?s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, reached an agreement with Brazilian energy trader Comerc to release two renewable energy tokens, Reuters reported Wednesday.
- The first token will work as a cashback reward for Comerc customers who generate renewable energy through the company?s distributed generation system, Sou Vagalume. The company plans to allow the purchase of the token for a fixed amount and later to offer the digital asset for trading in a secondary market.
- Users of Sou Vagalume now get 15% to 20% off their total electricity bills.
- Comerc has 5,000 customers using its distributed generation system, although it expects to reach 150,000 customers by the end of 2022.
- Roberto Dagnoni, CEO of 2TM Group, the holding company for Mercado Bitcoin, said that if a customer has a monthly expense of 1,000 Brazilian reais (about $180), he would receive 150 Brazilian reais converted into tokens per month.
- According to Dagnoni, both companies are completing the legal and regulatory details and the product should be ready in December or January.
- Bitcoin Market and Comerc plan to launch a second token, backed by the International REC Standard, a certificate that documents electricity consumption from renewable energy sources. It is still in preliminary stages, Reuters reported.
- In June, Mercado Bitcoin raised $200 million from the SoftBank Latin America Fund in a Series B funding round . That was the largest B round ever in Latin America and SoftBank?s largest investment in a Latin American crypto company.