Hola amig@s fintech,
Digital banks are done playing challenger this week. Nu México didn't just get a banking license, it became the country's largest bank by client base, full stop, no digital qualifier needed. Plata took the model on the road, landing approval to open in Colombia as its first market outside Mexico. Traditional banks still hold the incumbency, but the ground under them keeps shifting: licenses that once separated fintechs from real banks are the same licenses digital challengers are now collecting.
More on that, and everything else, below.
~Vivi
🟨Editor’s Picks
Stablecoins moved $1.5 trillion through Latin America in three years, and they're becoming payments infrastructure
Rain's State of Stablecoins in Latin America report argues the region's stablecoin market has moved past speculation and into infrastructure. Between 2022 and 2025, Latin America moved $1.5 trillion in on-chain crypto transactions, and roughly 1 in 8 people in the region now own digital assets. Stablecoin transfers cost on average 40% less than traditional channels, and up to 92% less on remittance corridors specifically. Adoption is accelerating fastest in cross-border payments, corporate treasury management, and as a hedge against inflation and exchange rate volatility. For LatAm fintech, the report's core claim is that stablecoins are quietly becoming the rails themselves, not just an asset people hold on top of them.
Latin America's top 5 startup hubs, ranked
Startup Genome's GSER 2026 report crowns São Paulo as the region's top startup ecosystem, followed by Mexico City, Santiago-Valparaíso, Bogotá, and Buenos Aires. The region just posted near-record exits in Q1 2026 alone, and Mexico City pulled off something rare: out-raising Brazil in venture funding for the first time since 2012. Behind the ranking, Startup Genome also piloted a new benchmarking model in Brazil, giving ecosystems there hard data instead of gut feel for the first time
A former banker's take on Mexico's World Cup fintech moment
In the finale of "Voces del Mundial," a special series from La Estrategia del Día México, host Jimena Tolama talks with Jorge Ortiz, a former banker and advisor to financial sector companies, about Mexico's World Cup opportunity. Ortiz's diagnosis is blunt: the tournament could have served as a catalyst to align the country around a real financial inclusion strategy, and that opportunity went unused.
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🟨 This Week’s Key Moves
| Fundraising
🇧🇷 Mercado Bitcoin, the Brazilian digital asset exchange, received a $20 million strategic investment from Tether, aimed at accelerating the tokenization of real-world assets and expanding digital asset infrastructure across the region.
🇲🇽 Nexu, the Mexican AI-powered automotive financing platform for consumers with limited credit histories, secured a $143 million credit facility from HSBC to expand its lending capacity.
🇺🇾 Infinia, the Uruguayan financial infrastructure startup, raised $13.5 million in a Series A led by Bain Capital and Variant Fund, with Y Combinator, Lattice, Varrock, Reverie, Decacorn, G2, and Tekton Ventures also participating, to fund new regulatory licenses and expansion across Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
🇧🇷 Conta Cheia, the Brazilian digital payroll-deducted credit lender, raised $9 million to expand its B2B operations and deepen partnerships with medium and large companies.
| Exits
🇧🇷 Tilt, the consumer lending fintech specializing in cash flow underwriting for non-prime borrowers, acquired Blipay, the Brazilian salary-advance fintech with more than 6 million registered users, marking Tilt's entry into Brazil.
🇧🇷 QI Tech, the Brazilian banking infrastructure and credit technology provider, acquired Autobanking, the Brazilian vehicle financing platform integrated with dealerships and auto retailers, expanding QI Tech into automotive finance.
| Products & Partnerships
🇲🇽 Banco Santander, the Spanish banking group, through its payments arm PagoNxt, acquired the remaining 30% stake in Mercadotecnia, Ideas y Tecnología (MIT), the Mexican merchant payments and technology provider, for $35.6 million.
🇧🇷 Mercado Pago, the Brazilian fintech arm of Mercado Libre, expanded its insurance business to 11 million active customers across Latin America with the launch of four new coverage products distributed through its own digital brokerage.
🇵🇪 Yape, the digital wallet ecosystem operated by Peru's BCP, formed a strategic alliance with Felix, the cross-border payment platform, to simplify remittance receipt from the United States.
| Policy
🇲🇽 Nu México, the local subsidiary of the Brazilian digital financial services provider, obtained official authorization from the CNBV to begin operating as a commercial bank, becoming the country's largest digital bank by client base.
🇨🇴 Plata, the Mexican digital banking institution, secured operational authorization from Colombia's Financial Superintendency to function as a financing company, marking its first market outside Mexico.
🇧🇷 Nu Pagamentos, the payment institution arm of Nubank, received official authorization from the Central Bank of Brazil to operate directly within the foreign exchange market.
TWIF Latin America editorial team
Elena, Head of New Technologies at Afirme Financial Group
Carlos, ESG Analyst at CFECapital
Editor-in-Chief: Vivi, Strategic Communications and Public Affairs Advisor
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