Key takeaways
- Nubank restores crypto withdrawals after external provider disruption
- Mercado Pago blocks transfers following risk-monitoring service incident
- Neither company identifies the provider responsible for disruption
Two of Latin America's largest fintech platforms, Nubank and Mercado Pago, suspended cryptocurrency transfers on November 6 after problems involving external technology providers, exposing the dependence of digital asset services on third-party infrastructure.
Nubank subsequently restored deposits and withdrawals at 10 p.m. on Friday, while Mercado Pago had not publicly confirmed full service restoration in the latest November 7 reports.
The incidents highlight a risk already acknowledged in MercadoLibre's 2025 annual filing: disruptions affecting outside cryptocurrency service providers can prevent customers from accessing trading, custody or transfer functions.
Nubank Restores Crypto Transfers as Mercado Pago Faces Delays
Nubank initially suspended cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals in Brazil, attributing the interruption to instability involving an external data provider.
The digital bank said the problem did not originate within its own infrastructure and that customer assets and information remained protected. Other cryptocurrency products continued functioning normally throughout the disruption.
On November 7, Nubank confirmed that affected transfer services had been restored the previous evening, although it did not identify the provider responsible.
Mercado Pago, the financial services business of MercadoLibre, described a more specific problem involving a provider responsible for monitoring transaction risks and preventing money laundering.
The company temporarily blocked some transfers to external wallets as a precaution. Incoming cryptocurrency deposits could also experience delays, although Mercado Pago said pending funds would be credited automatically once the affected systems recovered.
External Providers Create an Unexpected Crypto Bottleneck
Neither company publicly identified the affected service provider, and there is no confirmation that both disruptions originated from the same company.
Nubank and Mercado Pago have previously worked with Paxos on cryptocurrency infrastructure. However, their existing relationships do not establish that Paxos caused either incident.
The disruptions demonstrate how cryptocurrency services can become temporarily unavailable even when the underlying blockchain networks continue processing transactions normally.
Financial platforms rely on external companies for functions including transaction screening, compliance monitoring and custody. If a critical service becomes unavailable, an institution may restrict transfers until it can safely verify transactions.
The interruptions follow a turbulent week for cryptocurrency infrastructure. Brazilian exchange Mercado Bitcoin experienced a separate security breach on November 2, with investigators tracing approximately $48.5 million in suspicious transfers.
That incident came shortly after Binance's $6.3 billion hack, which forced the exchange to suspend withdrawals before gradually restoring services on November 1.
