1 · The problem, in numbers
Venezuelan law requires prices in bolívars at the official rate. The customer pays by mobile payment or card, and the merchant ends up holding bolívars that it converts into digital dollars on the parallel market to protect itself. Between the two steps it loses the whole gap.
Official rate (BCV) · 13 Nov 2026
Bs 911
Parallel dollar (Binance P2P)
Bs ≈ 1,100
Loss when buying dollars back
≈ 17%
Point-of-sale fee
1.5% to 5%
| Merchant selling US$ 10,000 a month | Today | With the scheme |
|---|---|---|
| Official-to-parallel gap when converting bolívars | −1,718 | 0 |
| Point-of-sale fee (debit 1.5% to 2% · credit 3% to 5%) | −150 to −500 | 0 |
| Scheme fee (3% average) | — | −300 |
| What the merchant keeps, in dollars | 7,782 to 8,132 | 9,700 |
Calculation ◆ at today's rates (911 and 1,100). The gap ranged between 13% and 30% during 2026 (Ecoanalítica). The 3% IGTF tax on foreign-currency or crypto payments to large taxpayers is covered in section 8: the buyer pays it, not the merchant, and it already applies to dollar cash today.
Anyone receiving a salary, a remittance or a service payment has the same problem: money comes in as bolívars at the official rate and goes out at the parallel rate. That is why 83% of the dollars the central bank places later move through Binance P2P outside the banks (Ecoanalítica, Oct 2026).
2 · The proposal
A payment method that credits the merchant in digital dollars, inside a regulated house, at the moment of the sale. No physical terminal: the app generates the QR code, the customer scans it with any wallet and pays in USDT or USDC. The balance sits in USDC in the merchant's account at the partner exchange.
Piece 1 · get paid
QR in USDC
- A contracted, integrated, white-label acceptance app. No terminal, no intermediary bank.
- Accepts USDT and USDC from any wallet (Binance, Crixto, self-custody). Credits in USDC.
- Average fee 3%: half of what a credit card costs today and one sixth of the gap.
Piece 2 · hold and spend
Account at the regulated exchange
- The merchant is a customer of the partner exchange (Dubai · European Union), with KYC and regulated custody. Its dollars are not in Venezuela.
- A virtual card linked to the balance, Revolut or N26 style, to pay online and abroad. Phase 2, through a card program the exchange contracts.
- Pays foreign suppliers directly in USDC or USD, never touching bolívars.
Piece 3 · exit to bolívars and get financed
Private desk + P2P
- Payroll and local suppliers are paid in bolívars. The merchant sells its USDC to the private desk or via P2P at the market price, not the official one: the exit does not cost the gap, it earns it.
- On top of the balance: specialised treasury, trade finance for importers and factoring for those who sell to shops and bakeries, with a spread set by individual analysis.
- Family office for the owners, already built.
3 · Money flow
Why USDC, not digital bolívars or a token of our own. USDC is the digital dollar that can be listed in the European Union under MiCA and the one the partner exchange already holds in custody. The Venezuelan market runs on USDT today, so the app accepts both and the exchange converts on credit. We issue nothing, hold nothing in Venezuela and touch the bolívar only for the exit the merchant asks for.
4 · Product layers, in launch order
Acceptance is the spearhead. Each following layer sells on top of the customer base the previous one brought in.
- QR acceptance in USDCAcceptance app + exchange account + exit to bolívars through the private desk and P2P.3% fee. Formal merchants with high tickets and customers who already use USDT: electronics, auto parts, pharmacies, restaurants, hardware, wholesalers.
- Virtual cardVisa or Mastercard on the USDC balance, for merchants and ordinary people. The exchange contracts the program (program manager + issuing bank).Turns the balance into everyday spending and opens the product to consumers.
- Specialised treasuryMulti-currency, scheduled payments to foreign suppliers, yield on idle balances, accounting reconciliation.For importers and distributors who run this today on spreadsheets and chats.
- Trade finance and factoringImport financing against documents; invoice advances for those who sell to shops and bakeries.Spread set by individual analysis of each client. Uses the collection history layer 1 already produced.
- Family officePlatform already developed: wealth, holdings, reporting for the owners of the network's businesses.Connects to the exchange account; nothing is rebuilt.
5 · Who does what
| Partner exchange · Dubai and European Union | KVR Partners · representation for Venezuela | Technology team |
|---|---|---|
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6 · Economics
Client-facing prices. The split between the exchange and KVR is agreed at the meeting.
| Layer | What is charged on | Client price | Reference in Venezuela today |
|---|---|---|---|
| QR acceptance | Each sale credited in USDC | 3% average | 17% gap + 1.5% to 5% point of sale |
| Exit to bolívars | Sale of USDC to the desk or via P2P | 1% to 2% spread ◆ | P2P today: 13% to 30% premium over official, kept by informal intermediaries |
| Virtual card | Issuance and usage | per program ◆ | No local offer for digital-dollar balances |
| Treasury | Monthly fee per company + payments abroad | to be defined ◆ | Today: spreadsheets, chats and third-country banks |
| Trade finance · factoring | Capital deployed | individual spread | Total bank credit in the country: ≈ US$ 2.3 billion |
| Family office | Assets under administration | per existing plan | Platform already developed |
Acceptance volume with 500 merchants ◆
US$ 60 M / year
Acceptance revenue at 3%
US$ 1.8 M
With 5,000 merchants ◆
US$ 600 M / year
Acceptance revenue at 3%
US$ 18 M
◆ Assumption: US$ 10,000 per merchant per month. Excludes exit to bolívars, card, treasury and financing. There are 824 thousand merchants with a point-of-sale terminal in the country: 5,000 is 0.6%.
7 · The market we enter
Payment operations per year
≈ 13.4 billion
Merchants with a POS terminal
824 thousand
Mobile payments per year (estimates)
US$ 36 to 70 bn
Binance P2P per year ◆
US$ 16.5 bn
| Data point | Value | What it means for the scheme |
|---|---|---|
| GDP 2026 (IMF) | US$ 124.2 bn | An economy growing again; 2026 inflation estimated at 468% |
| Dollars placed by the central bank (2026, annualised ◆) | ≈ US$ 20 bn | Banks channel only 25% of the FX market; the rest is already digital and informal |
| Crypto received in the country (Jul 2025 to Jun 2026) | US$ 39.1 bn | +107%, the fastest growth in Latin America; Venezuela ranks 9th in global adoption |
| Payment mix in shops | 84% Bs · 16% FX | Of the FX share, 86% is cash: the digital dollar at the point of sale is almost empty |
| Imports 2025 | US$ 15.4 bn | Base for trade finance |
| Remittances | US$ 3 to 6 bn | 80% through informal channels: the virtual card formalises them |
| E-commerce 2025 (industry body) | US$ 20 bn | Buy now, pay later already moves US$ 7.7 bn |
| Licensed platforms for USDT ⇄ Bs | 1 operating | There were two. Kontigo was suspended on 6 November 2026; Crixto remains. The market is served by Binance P2P with no local licence. |
8 · Regulation and risks
We enter from outside with regulated houses in Dubai and the European Union. What follows is what can go wrong and how the scheme mitigates it.
| Risk | Facts | Mitigation in the scheme |
|---|---|---|
| Venezuelan regulator | Sunacrip has been under intervention since 2023 and is being dismantled; its powers are migrating to Sudeban and the central bank with no decree formalising it. On 6 Nov 2026 Sunacrip suspended Kontigo's licence and Sudeban ordered banks to cut ties with its operator. | Phase 1 with no local entity and no local custody: the merchant is a customer of the foreign exchange. Formal application to Sudeban once volume justifies it. |
| Sanctions (OFAC) | Venezuela is a list-based program, not a full embargo. Since January 2026 OFAC issues sector-wide general licences (GL 46A, 47, 48), revocable without notice. | Every merchant screened against SDN lists; PDVSA, the Government and related parties excluded. Written sanctions policy shared by the exchange and KVR. |
| FATF and correspondent banks | Venezuela is on the grey list. JPMorgan froze accounts of stablecoin fintechs with Venezuelan business; Kontigo's US bank cut it off. | Enhanced due diligence; dollars never touch US banks to operate: USDC inside the exchange and a local bolívar exit. |
| IGTF | 3% tax on foreign-currency or crypto payments made to large taxpayers; the Executive may raise it to 20%. Paid by the buyer. | Applies equally to dollar cash: it does not change the advantage over the point of sale. Tax opinion before the pilot. |
| USDC freezing | Circle can freeze addresses under legal order. | Custody at a regulated exchange with its own compliance; the policy of not serving sanctioned parties reduces exposure. |
| FX gap and arbitrage | P2P premium of 13% to 30% during 2026. | The desk quotes at market and nets flows: merchants selling USDC against individuals and importers buying it. |
| Security | Kontigo lost US$ 340,000 in USDC from over 1,000 users in January 2026. | No private keys in Venezuela or in the app: custody belongs to the exchange. Integration audit before launch. |
What we do not do: we issue no token, hold no funds in Venezuela, promise no exchange rate, deal with no sanctioned entity, and offer no yield to the public without legal analysis in each jurisdiction.
9 · Roadmap
- Agreement and designLetter of intent exchange ⇄ KVR. Operating foreign company. Selection of the acceptance app. Tax and sanctions opinions.◆ Weeks 1 to 6
- Integration and pilotExchange API in sandbox, acceptance app integrated, bolívar desk running. 20 pilot merchants in Caracas.◆ Weeks 6 to 14 · gate: 20 merchants collecting
- Acceptance launchCommercial roll-out by sector. P2P network. Target 500 merchants.◆ Months 4 to 9 · gate: US$ 5 M per month
- Card and treasuryCard program contracted by the exchange. Treasury for importers.◆ Months 9 to 15 · gate: 2,000 merchants
- Financing and regulatorTrade finance and factoring on the collection history. Family office integrated. Formal application in Venezuela.◆ Months 15 to 24
10 · Decisions for the meeting
For the partner exchange
- Which of the two entities opens accounts for Venezuelan merchants, and under which country-risk policy?
- API and sandbox access: accounts, acceptance, USDT → USDC conversion, payments abroad.
- Wholesale cost to KVR per acceptance, per conversion and per payment abroad.
- Card program: provider, timeline and set-up cost.
- Written sanctions and due-diligence policy for Venezuela.
For the technology team
- Short list of white-label stablecoin QR acceptance apps with an API; criterion: settlement into the exchange account, not into a loose wallet.
- Integration estimate: acceptance, balance, exit to bolívars, embedded KYC, reconciliation.
- Connection to the existing family office platform and factoring module.
- Security plan and audit before the pilot.
For KVR
- Foreign company that signs with the exchange and invoices the representation.
- Source of bolívar liquidity for the desk and P2P allies.
- First 20 pilot merchants and the phase 1 sectors.
- Tax (IGTF) and sanctions opinions before the first QR is charged.
11 · Assumptions and sources
◆ marks figures derived or assumed by KVR. Everything else comes from the sources listed, consulted on 13 November 2026.
- Rates of the day: BCV Bs 911 per dollar and Binance P2P ≈ Bs 1,100 (own observation, 13 Nov 2026). 2026 gap range: Ecoanalítica via Grisanti, October 2026.
- Payment operations January to October 2025 (11,177 M; mobile 4,237 M; POS 4,350 M): central bank (BCV) via Banca y Negocios, January 2026. Annualisation ◆.
- Value of mobile payments: ≈ US$ 3 bn a month, interbank only (Debates IESA, April 2025); US$ 70 bn projection for 2026 (Cavecom-e, October 2026). Neither is an official BCV figure.
- Terminals and merchants: BCV card study, November 2025 (1,147,759 terminals at 823,701 merchants).
- Point-of-sale and mobile payment fees: Official Gazette 43,427 (July 2026) via El Estímulo.
- Central bank intervention and Binance P2P, June to October 2026 (US$ 7,150 M and US$ 5,949 M; 83%): Ecoanalítica via Alejandro Grisanti, 24 October 2026. Banks at 25% of the FX market: Asdrúbal Oliveros via Transparencia Venezuela, December 2025.
- Bolívar and FX mix in shops (84 / 16; 86% cash): Ecoanalítica, May 2025.
- Crypto received: Chainalysis, Latin America adoption reports 2025 and 2026.
- GDP and inflation: IMF World Economic Outlook, October 2026, via Bloomberg Línea. Imports and exports 2025: BCV balance of payments via Finanzas Digital and La Patilla.
- Remittances: BCV series (average ≈ US$ 3 bn, 2018 to 2025) and Inter-American Dialogue estimate (≈ US$ 6 bn).
- E-commerce: Cavecom-e, April 2026 (industry figure, methodology not published).
- Kontigo: January 2026 hack (CriptoNoticias, DiarioBitcoin); licence suspension by Sunacrip and Sudeban circular SIB-DSB-08954 of 6 November 2026 (CriptoNoticias, 13 Nov 2026, document not independently verified); US investigation (WSJ).
- Status of Sunacrip: under intervention since March 2023; powers migrating to Sudeban and the BCV with no official text (CriptoNoticias, Morocotacoin, 2026).
- OFAC: General Licences 46, 46A, 47 and 48 (January and February 2026), analyses by Morgan Lewis and Foley.
- IGTF: Official Gazette 6,687 and analyses by Acceso a la Justicia and Finanzas Digital; 3% rate on foreign-currency or crypto payments to large taxpayers, with a discretionary cap of 20%.
- QR acceptance and card providers cited as categories, not as a selection: BVNK, Crassula, NOWPayments, Circle Payments Network; StraitsX, Wirex, Gnosis Pay, Visa and Mastercard programs for crypto platforms (Crystal Intelligence, Artemis, 2026).