Martín Peláez

Many Latin American economies suffer from the devaluation of their currency against the US dollar. People with less economic capacity are the most affected since they have less means to face the growth of inflation. One strategy to protect oneself from devaluation is to keep savings in dollars. This is what young Colombian Martín Peláez tried to do during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the first moments of the health crisis, the Colombian peso devalued. At that time, Pelaez, a mechanical engineering graduate from the Universidad de los Andes (Colombia), decided to open an account in the USA to protect his savings. But the U.S. banks required a minimum of US$15,000, which he did not have. His response to this impossibility of investing in dollars was to co-found Plenti, an app that allows anyone to open an account in dollars from one dollar. For this solution, MIT Technology Review in Spanish has selected Peláez as one of the Innovators under 35 Latin America 2023.

Thanks to blockchain technology, the app makes it possible to buy and sell digital U.S. dollars. The platform facilitates the buying and selling of the USDT cryptocurrency, whose value is anchored to that of the dollar. It also allows making payments and transfers in this less volatile currency than those used in Latin America. Pelaéz clarifies, "Plenti offers people an efficient tool to protect themselves from the devaluation and economic uncertainty they face in their countries. In Colombia there were no efficient alternatives to do so. Now we give people the opportunity to save in dollars."

This digital wallet allows you to create an account in two minutes, invest savings, buy dollars through traditional payment methods, send and receive digital payments in dollars. The app has achieved in half a year more than 16,000 users and traced more than 60 million dollars only in Colombia.

The young innovator wants to expand his start-up to other Latin American countries such as Mexico, Argentina and Venezuela where currency devaluations are constant. This way more people and companies will be able to benefit from his solution. "We want to be the dollar bank of Latin America," he concludes.