New leader of the Bitcoin market in Brazil wants to 'go beyond exchange' without losing crypto essence

Source: Exame Original Title: New leader of Mercado Bitcoin in Brazil wants to 'go beyond exchange' without losing crypto essence Original Link: Going beyond an exchange without losing the essence of the cryptocurrency world. This is the main objective of Lucas Lopes when taking over the presidency of the Mercado Bitcoin operation in Brazil. In an interview, the executive emphasized that the brokerage, one of the oldest in the Brazilian market, wants to offer more financial services to its clients.

Before joining the company, Lopes worked as a Product leader in a financial institution, focusing on credit. “My background is not in crypto, but rather in the financial sector. My role has always been much more focused on credit, risk modeling, collections, and the crypto world is something recent for me,” he comments.

“I had heard about crypto in the past, everyone knows about bitcoin and everything else, but in the last few months, when the conversations started, I became very interested in the industry. The blockchain model has already proven itself, it has gone beyond just a hype, and historically it is a model that has been in constant growth,” he emphasizes.

Changes and goals of the Bitcoin Market

Lopes also arrives at Mercado Bitcoin with new bold goals for the company. According to the executive, the two main objectives are to significantly expand the number of users and the volume transacted on the platform. In the first case, the goal is to grow the user base by more than six times, increasing from the current 4 million to 25 million by 2030.

The executive classifies the goal as a “massification” of the platform in Brazil. In addition, the other objective of Mercado Bitcoin is to expand its transaction volume to R$ 400 billion by 2030. If both goals are achieved, the company's revenue would increase tenfold in the next five years.

To achieve this, Lopes states that the company needs to “go beyond just being an exchange for buying and selling assets,” offering new products and services to customers. “The first point, simpler, is to have a more intuitive experience in the app,” he emphasizes.

“Historically, exchanges became famous because in the past it was difficult even to buy crypto, due to issues of access and storage. The exchange removes this problem for the user to invest in crypto, but the evolution is to understand what their next step is. It is about how to go beyond, and now the focus is on the banking part, because there are various opportunities there,” he comments.

Among the new services on the radar of Mercado Bitcoin are the credit area, using crypto assets as collateral for loans. Another area is payments, focusing on stablecoins, cryptocurrencies pegged to other assets, and the possibility of launching a card using stablecoins.

Lopes' ultimate goal is to transform the company's app into a “banking app in the crypto world. Where people will understand that by putting money there, it will yield more, have greater benefits, and all of this in a simple way. We need to do it simply for the user, so they understand that there are more benefits.”

Next steps

In 2026, Lopes states that the focus of Mercado Bitcoin will be on product development, which should emerge as the main differentiator for attracting new customers. He emphasizes that there is a great potential for expanding this base.

“If you look at the crypto market, people who are already into crypto, you reach a certain level of the market that is what we are trying to target. But there is another world out there, of people who do not understand this world but invest, use financial services and could very well use our services, and that's where it really broadens the scope,” he explains.

The executive acknowledges that competition with other exchanges operating in Brazil and banks is the “great challenge” for the company. And he believes that competition with banks is particularly difficult. “Why leave the environment they are used to come to the MB? And that is the point where we need to have a differential, offer something that others do not offer, and from the moment you bring the customer for that, you start to create an ecosystem.”

With this, Mercado Bitcoin aims to be the “first user app” for finance. But without abandoning the world of cryptocurrencies: “Our essence is crypto. It is different from a traditional bank that is trying to add this. So the effort is for the person to come here, understand and see the advantages and differentials. We cannot lose the essence of crypto.”

“The big goal for a year from now is to have these new products implemented. I really want to have a more intuitive app for the user and implemented, where a person enters and does not leave. Metrics such as NPS, churn, and transacting customers will be the focus of 2026. And in the coming years, the focus will be on scaling user numbers, massifying.”