AirTM gains ground in Venezuela despite Nicolás Maduro’s blockade (2020)

From the 2020 article:

Despite efforts from the Nicolás Maduro regime to block its access, digital wallet provider AirTM continues to gain ground in Venezuela and is set to start processing payments worth millions of dollars from Interim President Juan Guaidó’s team to ill-paid healthcare workers, company founder and Chief Executive Officer Ruben Galindo said.

Speaking in an interview with el Nuevo Herald, Galindo said that all of the 60,000 doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers in Venezuela have already opened up accounts to start receiving payments through the online platform even though the regime has ordered local Internet providers to impede its access inside the country.

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“The ‘health care heroes’ and all of our users have taken steps to evade the censorship,” Galindo said. “Many of them have downloaded access to VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) to evade the restrictions imposed by the dictatorship through the Venezuelan Internet providers.”

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Guaidó promised Venezuela’s health workers, some of whom are paid less than $5 a month, a $100 monthly bonus to help compensate for the harsh conditions they face as they battle the coronavirus pandemic.

The payments, which could initially add up to about $18 million, would come out of the funds seized abroad from the regime.

Venezuela is by far AirTM’s largest market, representing about half of the company’s operations, as thousands of its citizens living abroad use the company’s services to send remittances to their loved ones suffering under the collapsing economy, Galindo said.

The Mexico City-based digital wallet provider is also used by Venezuelan freelance workers inside the country to collect wages from their foreign employers, bypassing the restrictions to foreign exchange transactions imposed by the regime.

[...]

The payments to Venezuelan healthcare workers could provide an additional $5 million per month, according to press reports.

Followup: the payments did happen.

The Health Heroes Aid program met its goals and concluded in January 2021.

• 59,740 verified doctors and nurses paid
  $17,799,800 digital dollars delivered
  177,995 individual payments to Venezuelan nationals

AirTM came to my attention because GiveDirectly used AirTM to transfer money to Venezuelans after the June 24th earthquakes:

How we sent cash after Venezuela’s twin earthquakes using a payment route others thought was impossible

GiveDirectly had never worked in Venezuela. We had no office, local team, or established payment route—and needed to build a response from scratch in a country where aid organizations face significant barriers.

Authorities have historically restricted cash assistance and closely scrutinized programs funded from abroad. A 2024 law added further restrictions on nonprofit organizations. Sanctions also complicated moving money into the country, limiting the banks and payment providers we could work with.

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We found a way to deliver cash through Pago Móvil—the local mobile payment system other responders thought was off-limits. Recipients received local currency directly in their existing accounts, without needing a new app or crypto wallet.

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This was GiveDirectly’s first use of digital currencies for humanitarian cash transfers.

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Pago Móvil offered a familiar way for recipients to receive money. The challenge was connecting to it from outside Venezuela while meeting sanctions requirements and finding a reliable supply of local currency. Typically, it would require access to a local bank, which is why many thought it wasn’t possible. So instead, we built a route through two providers: Decaf, a platform for sending stablecoin payments, and AirTM, a U.S.-registered money services business whose marketplace connects payments to local currency.

It seems like AirTM was the key to the whole thing? AirTM has "cashiers" who accept cryptocurrency (USDC, tied to the US dollar) and send local payments. Here is AirTM's page on becoming a cashier. Most ordinary people don't touch cryptocurrency, but it's playing a role in these payment networks.