New York-based crypto exchange Gemini has announced that it volition be expanding into Latin America through an upcoming partnership with Republic of colombia'southward largest banking company, Bancolombia.

The partnership will take consequence on Dec. 14, and will let customers from Bancolombia to merchandise four crypto avails: Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

A limited number of users will exist able to buy crypto directly from their Bancolombia bank accounts through the Gemini exchange, which volition provide crypto-specific infrastructure for substitution and custody of avails. Information technology remains unclear whether the users will be able to withdraw the crypto holdings straight from their accounts.

In a Monday annunciation about the partnership, Gemini stated that it "serves every bit an important step toward the strategic expansion of Gemini's presence in Latin America."

"We believe that crypto can play an important role in the development of Latin America as involvement in blockchain and innovative technologies proliferates throughout the region."

The partnership will run equally part of a year-long pilot program run by Colombia's financial regulator, the Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia (SFC). The regulatory sandbox, "la Arenera" was approved by the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit in September 2022.

In January, the SFC announced that it had chosen ix out of xiv crypto exchanges that had applied for the project, including Gemini, Binance and the Mexican exchange Bitso.

Since El Salvador adopted BTC as a legal tender on Sept. 7, Latin America has made strides towards mainstream crypto adoption. In October, CEO of multicurrency investment platform Uphold J. P. Thieriot told Cointelegraph that Latin America stands to "benefit the most from crypto."

Gemini currently operates in over threescore countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Republic of el salvador, Panama, Peru and Uruguay in Latin America.

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Bancolombia operates in Colombia, Panama, Republic of guatemala and El Salvador. According to an internal report from last year, information technology has 17.8 million users.

In March, Republic of colombia'due south oldest banking concern Banco de Bogotá also announced that it would be piloting crypto services equally office of la Arenera. A year prior in March 2022, Cointelegraph reported that Latin America is the region with the 3rd-largest number of crypto users in the earth.