Hardware Wallet Maker Ledger Targets Latin America Growth

The crypto hardware wallet producer Ledger is looking to expand into the Latin America region, and is targeting growth in “Central and South America.”

Per Criptonoticias, the French firm has announced plans for an “expansion” that Ledger hopes will “strengthen” its supply chain “operations” across the “entire Americas region.”

The media outlet said Ledger has established “official resellers of its products” in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Colombia.

But it also noted that many Central American countries, such as Guatemala, El Salvador, and Panama, as well as South American countries like Venezuela and Peru, “do not have official [Ledger] resellers.” 

“Users in these [nations] must pay high shipping costs for official products, or purchase them at a premium from less reliable sources,” it noted.

But, Criptonoticias suggested, Ledger’s new focus “on expanding into Latin America” could provide “easier access to Ledger products” for consumers in the aforementioned nations.

Ledger previously announced this year that it struck a partnership deal with a USA-based logistics firm to “distribute some of the inventory previously housed” by its factories in Europe and Asia.

The company said that would “initially focus on the US and Canada.”

But is also said it planned to “extend the scope” of its partnership to “Central and South America.”

Ledger Targets LATAM? Crypto Adoption Rises in Region

Crypto adoption is on the march in many of these nations, such as Panama, Peru, and El Salvador, nations where crypto mining and token-buying have spiked in recent years.

But Venezuela’s crypto adoption plans have taken a hit in the past few months, following the arrest of most of the nation’s pro-crypto ministers on corruption charges.

The country’s state-run cryptoasset, the Petro (PTR), also appears to have essentially died, with government support largely removed.

Ironically perhaps, Venezuela’s government has offered high-level support for hardware-based crypto wallets in the past.

Back in 2019, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was gifted a Trezor wallet from a reseller on state TV – and then proceeded to sing the device’s praises.

The Bitcoin (BTC) advocate Samson Mow last month claimed that Guatemala “could adopt BTC in an instant” as its legal system permits the use of foreign currencies as a form of payment.

Earlier this year, Ledger announced the launch of Ledger Enterprise TRADELINK, a platform that it says will offer features like off-exchange trading with regulated custodians.

Ledger said that the platform will offer users access to exchanges and brokers including Crypto.com, Wintermute, and Komainu.