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.