Japan’s Soft Group Corp. has invested $200 million in one of Latin American’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges, Mercado Bitcoin.

According to Roberto Dagnoni, executive chairman and chief executive officer of 2TM Group, the parent company of the exchange, it was part of the firm’s Series B funding round.

SoftBank made the investment through its Latin American Fund, which represents the Japanese multinational company's largest investment in a Latin American crypto company.

With this funding round, 2TMhas reached a valuation of $2.1 billion.

Launched in 2013, Mercado Bitcoin has grown its client base to 2.8 million in 2021, over 70% of the entire individual investor base in Brazil's stock exchange, 2TM said.

During the first five months of the year, about 700,000 new customers signed up to use Mercado Bitcoin's services, and the company's trading volume increased to $5 billion, more than the total for its first seven years combined, it said.

This latest investment from SoftBank comes at a time when the cryptocurrency market is in capitulation after experiencing a drawdown of as much as 50% to 75% from their all-time highs while money continues to flow into the private crypto market as investors bet on the long-term growth of the industry.

Dagnoni remains unfazed by the sideways price action going on in the crypto market, saying, “We are strong believers in the fundamentals of crypto.”

Meanwhile, the fresh capital will be used by Mercado Bitcoin to scale its operations, expand its offerings, and invest in infrastructure to meet the rising demand for cryptocurrency in the region.

The company is looking at regional expansions in Latam and expansions via mergers and acquisitions while focusing on custody which is “very important in releasing the power of the institutional market,” said Dagnoni in an interview with Reuters.

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