Unalivio founder: “The global south is crypto paradise”

Ernesto Contreras, a crypto founder with seven years of experience in the industry, first encountered Bitcoin in 2013 while pursuing his MBA in China, because at that time, a friend suggested the idea of acquiring cryptocurrency mining equipment. An idea he initially dismissed due to his lack of understanding of “internet money”. However, in 2016, while still residing abroad, he faced difficulties sending money to his family in Venezuela. And in his research for solutions on money transfers, he delved into Bitcoin and began understanding the meaning of this emerging digital currency.

With seven years of experience in the crypto industry, including LatAm’s most important exchange Bitso, and Dash Coin, Contreras remains truly passionate about the opportunities brought by crypto; he now understands them as a means to provide financial freedom, which is crucial for the global south.

Contreras highlights as reasons for the outstanding adoption of crypto in Latin America: 

• Latin Americans’ distrust of inefficient and corrupt monetary systems.
• Difficulty for an average individual to purchase from international websites.
• The high penetration of technology and mobile devices in the region.

Reflecting on this, Contreras remembers a set of interviews with a 14-year-old Mexican teenager who was using Bitcoin to purchase video game credits due to the limitations of the traditional financial system, which required credit cards this boy’s family did not have. These teenagers discovered the utility of Bitcoin for their needs, a great example of the applications of cryptocurrency for everyday transactions.

Latin America emerges as a promising hub for cryptocurrency adoption, or as Contreras calls the region: “A crypto paradise.”

Store of value and monetary protection

Latin Americans, having endured numerous crises over the years, a region familiar with inflation, leads many to seek refuge in the stability of the dollar. Recent studies conducted by Chainalysis, OKx, and others corroborate the trend: cryptocurrencies have become integral to the daily lives of people in the region, especially those grappling with currency devaluation. Evident in countries like Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Venezuela, which consistently feature prominently in such studies.

Non-speculative use cases for cryptocurrencies are increasingly common on the streets of Caracas and Buenos Aires. For instance, Binance achieved massive growth by providing Latinos access to a sort of “digital bank.” Notably, El Salvador has made efforts to attract the Bitcoin community; and across Latin America, multiple digital wallets emerged to facilitate access to dollars, and cross-border money transfers.

Sending remittances to Latin America remains a cumbersome, multi-step process. Senders can pay fees as high as 20%, experience hours of delays before funds reach their destination, and sometimes face total losses due to intermediaries. Despite these challenges, over 30 million Latinos send financial assistance to their families every month. In response to this need, Contreras and a group of Venezuelan migrants created Unalivio, a platform designed to simplify digital payments for ordinary people.

What is Unalivio and how is it working within the Latin American market?

The goal of Unalivio is to provide an easy-to-use solution for those who need to support their families from abroad, so that they can make payments for their loved ones immediately from other countries. We achieve this by using cryptocurrency technology as a rail, keeping a simple experience for our users.

For our medical service payment product, the migrant selects a service from a network of doctors who are subscribed to Unalivio in Venezuela and pays with Local transfer in Chile, Debit card, or USDC starting today. On the other end, our affiliates receive payments in digital currency without the need to have foreign bank accounts, this way both the patient and the doctor quickly solve the payment process.

Unalivio launched their pilot test with one hundred specialists in a dozen healthcare facilities, and currently we have a waiting list of more than four hundred professionals who will join the system in Caracas, Venezuela. The team also mentioned that after their work in the capital city, they will expand reach nationwide as their processes are fine tuned.

Contreras mentioned growth has been much higher than anticipated, and mentioned that soon they will also add cash-in payments from Colombia, Mexico, El Salvador and Spain, and they plan to expand services to El Salvador and Argentina as they conclude their financing round.

Migrants want an easier way to support their families, and we are getting organic requests to help them in other places too. We plan to do that very soon!