![Ripio Credit Network.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmNkubKKB4TGw4CyfrWJaTFAwghqQyfSWuFg7kd9RVmQXC/Ripio%20Credit%20Network.png) This is not an ICO chill to begin with. I am writing this article because I am Latina and South America does not often capture the world’s attention when it comes to technology. But Ripio (RCN) as an enterprise is managing to do so and finally showcasing to the world the Latin America Fin-tech potential. How? By developing effective blockchain applications, a variety of services that have been developed upon demand over the course of 5 years. Recently, Ripio was picked by FINTECH100 as one of the 16 most innovative start ups of 2018 among huge names such as Coinbase, Circle and Bankera. Let’s take a peak why? The basics: Ripio (RCN), previously known as Bitpagos, is a company that provides electronic payment solutions for companies in Latin America. The enterprise offers a range of financial services for emerging countries such as crypto wallet, exchanges, payment gateway and p2p secured loans. All the services offered use blockchain technology. The main goal of Ripio is to make the financial system more accessible to people. For that, they created services that are very intuitive making possible to buy and sell bitcoins in a very secure manner. By doing so they captivated a huge market and as of November 2018 have more than 220000 users from Argentina, Brasil, Chile and México. The environment: The demand for and the popularity of crypto currencies in Latin America is growing. Large percentage of the population do not have access to banking but they are connected to the internet using mobile phones. Many of they are looking for ways to make online purchases. New integration: Recently, during Bitconf Fortaleza, Brazil, Lucas C. representative of Ripio announced another big achievement. Ripio has integrated with Mercado Pago; a brand of PayPal for Latin America. Now all clients of Mercado pago have access to RCN currency and are able to exchange Ripio to Brazilian Reais and other Latin American currencies and vise versa within the Mercado Pago automated platform. This partnership will contribute to the popularization of Ripio (RCN) and Bitcoin (BTC) as a medium of exchange in Brazil, Latin America and possibly other parts of the world. In addition, Mercado Pago in Latin America serves a great number of completely unbanked customers, giving unbanked clients direct access to purchase RCN and Bitcoin online. This integration is certainly an easy and most importantly a safe gate way to crypto for these emerging countries. Opening a Mercado Pago account is a lot less costly and less time consuming than opening and maintaining a bank account and that is certainly the reason why we are seeing a large increase in usage. Convenience is a huge factor but in those countries costs are too, as banking fees are often inaccessible to many. Final note: Over time the course of 5 years Ripio has certainly implemented services that fulfill a demand. The team behind the enterprise has attracted multiple venture capital investors and have delivered many solid achievements. Placing Ripio (RCN) among the top 100 Finch-tech start ups. There is plenty of room for growth and interested to see the results of this partnership in a course of a year or so. By: Michelle Mafra Mamãecrypto.blogspot.com Original article posted on my blog on December 2nd 2018. Also published in few other media outlets. https://www.mammycrypto.com/2018/12/ripio-rcn-progredindo-em-direcao-adocao.html