Jesús Castillo, CEO and founder of the Venezuelan fintech Kontigo, stated this Monday that the main 1,000 companies in the Caribbean country already use that wallet to operate, manage and access liquidity in stablecoins such as USD Coin (USDC) and USD Tether (USDT). Among the companies that already integrate these services are companies such as Daka, Soy Techno, El Tunal and Purolomo. These organizations, especially those dedicated to the import and food sector, They use the platform to make international payments and ensure the logistics of their merchandise. The figure was revealed by Castillo during the presentation of Kontigo Business at a private event held on December 15 in Caracas, Venezuela. The manager—who participated virtually—emphasized that it is a platform designed for the Venezuelan corporate sector to manage operations with digital assets. According to him, the objective is offer a faster and more efficient structure than traditional banking. This, allowing the exchange between bolivars and digital assets to be immediate.
Castillo announced that more than 40,000 points of sale will enable USDT payments through Kontigo. Source: BitcoinDynamic. Currently, the application reports a user base that would exceed one million people, according to Kontigo’s own directors. Furthermore, it would already process transactional volumes of $1 billionaccording to that company’s internal estimates. Observations by specialists such as José Gregorio Rodríguez, president of the National Council of Commerce and Services (Consecomercio), suggest that the use of cryptocurrency platforms exceeds 30% in the commerce and services sector. According to the union member, digital assets function as an «escape valve» against the limitations of traditional financial intermediation for payment to suppliers.
Focus on Venezuelan companies
The decision to prioritize the business segment responds to the fact that The corporate sector represents 70% of transactions with digital assets in Venezuela, according to Kontigo’s own directors. Camilo Sánchez, who is also the founder of the platform and director of operations (COO), explained to this medium that «there is a market of great interest» on the corporate side «that was not being addressed formally.» The manager did not consider, however, that there is another local company called Crixto that offers the adoption of USDT to Venezuelan businesses through direct integration with Binance Pay, Binance’s payment gateway. However, Sánchez did highlight that, in order to strengthen this infrastructure, fintech offers different solutions to businesses. Among them, immediate liquidity, collection of invoices from suppliers without commissions and a payroll payment product where the company contributes bolivars and employees receive USDC or USDT in their wallets.
According to Kontigo managers, they process $200 million in stablecoins a day. Source: BitcoinDynamic. The preference for digital assets linked to the dollar It is evident in local market metrics. Eleazar Colmenares, CEO of Cryptobuyer Venezuela, recently indicated that 47% of retail transactions in the Caribbean country are carried out with stablecoins. In fact, Sánchez emphasizes that Kontigo currently transacts more than 200 million dollars monthly. And they plan to raise that figure to USD 500 million by next year.
