El Dorado, the fintech founded in 2021 by Guillermo Goncalvez, Juan Andreu and Carlos Fontes, closed a Series A round of US$9 million led by Paradigm, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and Verda Ventures. The company was founded by three Venezuelans in response to the difficulty of accessing dollars in a transparent and regulated manner; However, today it operates from Buenos Aires and has also expanded its presence to 12 countries in Latin America.
In this context, the platform offers a P2P stablecoin market that connects users with local liquidity providers through more than 80 regional payment methods. In this way, it allows you to buy, sell and transfer USDT using local currency. Likewise, in just four years, the company went from zero to 100,000 active users and, in parallel, has processed more than 5 million transactions, of which approximately half correspond to cross-border operations.
New product for global companies
In conjunction with the closing of the round, El Dorado launched El Dorado Business, a multi-signature account designed for digital companies that manage funds internationally. For its part, the solution is built on Tempo’s infrastructure and seeks to replace processes that normally require multiple correspondent banks, long waiting times and high transaction costs. Instead, it proposes real-time settlements using stablecoins as a means of payment.
Regarding its impact, Ricardo de Arruda, Partner of Investing & Research at Paradigm, noted: “Latin America has the highest organic adoption of stablecoins in the world. El Dorado has built the payments application that puts stablecoins to work for consumers who send money home and for companies that operate across borders.”
A region in its “golden age”
Finally, for Goncalvez, Latin America is entering a historic moment: “Talent, capital and the regulatory framework are arriving at the same time for the first time. In four years, we went from zero to 100,000 users moving money in twelve countries. The next decade will be 100 times that.”
With these new resources, the company will seek to deepen its presence in the markets where it already operates and, at the same time, strengthen its regional financial infrastructure. In this way, it aims to become the most accessible cross-border payments rail in Latin America.
