Venezuela-Based Valiu Develops “Cryptodollar” to Combat Inflation

Valiu, a cross-border remittance startup based in Columbia, has recently launched a synthetic US dollar backed by Bitcoin. This was developed in a bid for Venezuelans to access a stable asset, and in doing so bypass the rampant hyperinflation that the country’s economy is suffering from

A Product Of Relentless Hard Work

The entire project is still in its Alpha stages, but Valiu is striving to make this come to fruition. In recent times, the firm has established a partnership with Rappi, a Latin American food delivery app. This has the potential to offer a large user base for Valiu to help with its adoption when it rolls out fully later this year.

Simon Chamorro, the CEO of Valiu, gave a tweet on the 23rd of April. In this tweet, he explained that the “cryptodollar” has launched in Alpha. He stated that it took four months of time, with his team operating more than 80 hours a week.

After 4 months of 80+ hour work weeks, 500k+ lines of clean code written across 4 engineers, shifting the company fully remote due to COVID, and completing a rigorous regulatory analysis…

I'm proud to say that Valiu's cryptodollar is now live and running in Alpha. https://t.co/yf6F1jO0Ju

— Simon Chamorro (@simonvaliu) April 23, 2020

Over 500,000 lines of clean code had to be written, according to Chamorro, and was done through four engineers. The COVID-19 pandemic made a further complication, and the team had to work fully remote, according to Chamorro. After a rigorous process of regulatory analysis, Chamorro was proud to state that the cryptodollar of his is operating in full swing.

Easy To Use Format

The synthetic dollar that Valiu is offering can be stored on the smartphone wallet app from the firm. The cryptodollars can be sent to users of Venezuela without any sort of fees. These synthetic dollars are backed by way of Bitcoin but was designed in such a way that users without knowledge of crypto can use it, as well. Users without any crypto knowledge can simply buy and transfer crypto dollars through depositing cash at one of the thousands of remittance partners Valiu has within Columbia itself.

Sid Ramesh stands as an advisor to various early-stage startups. Recently, he posted a video wherein he detailed the operations of the valiu app itself. Within this video, Chomarro sent him a single cryptodollar to his smartphone, doing so in less than 30 seconds’ time.

Trying To Fill A Need

Chamorro explained that the recent influx of migrant workers coming into Columbia from Venezuela stood as a significant inspiration for the cryptodollar project. Due to MoneyGram and Western Union facing ever-increasing capital controls, Chamorro stated that more and more people are using the black market for remittances.

Valiu has been trying to provide remittances to Venezuelans for seven months now, particularly fiat currency-based ones. However, hyperinflation is resulting in recipients ending up with fewer bolivars during the time it took to actually get into the Venezuelan financial system.