Episode #189: El Dorado CEO Guillermo Goncalves Live from Bitso's Stablecoin Conference

Hey everyone,Guillermo Goncalvez is CEO of El Dorado. I caught up with him at Bitso’s Stablecoin Conference in Mexico City last month to discuss El Dorado’s new $9 million Series A round and its expansion into B2B payments.El Dorado’s move into business accounts signals a broader shift as consumer-first stablecoin apps in Latin America start building infrastructure for the small and medium-sized businesses that traditional banks have largely ignored.The raise also lands as Goncalvez, who is Venezuelan, sees renewed international investor interest in Venezuela’s financial sector after years of isolation.🙌 You can listen to Bits and Borders on your favorite podcast platform YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts🔥 Join our English language Telegram group to continue the conversation Bits & Borders is Presented by SumsubSumsub recently released its fourth annual State of the Crypto Industry report. The new research reveals how digital asset companies are balancing fraud prevention, regulatory pressure, and user experience as they scale in 2026. This report draws on Sumsub’s internal data from 2024–2025 and insights from 300 crypto companies surveyed outside Sumsub’s customer base.Some of the key global highlights include:* Crypto firms are moving away from ‘growth at all costs’, with 74% now prioritizing verification accuracy over user onboarding speed (39%).* Despite fraud rates remaining flat at 2.2% from 2024 to 2025, crypto firms operate in a structurally riskier environment where targeted, automated and AI-driven attacks are the new normal.* Over half (55%) of surveyed companies confirmed they experienced fraud at least once in 2025, with 15% unsure if it happened or not–emphasizing the lag between detection capabilities and growing fraud sophistication.Key takeaways:* El Dorado closed a $9 million Series A led by Paradigm, with Coinbase Ventures also participating.* The round funds El Dorado’s expansion into a B2B product, giving businesses virtual dollar accounts for global operations, particularly useful for import and export companies.* Latin America’s cross-border payment market is worth close to $800 billion annually, and about 60% of that is B2B, mostly imports and exports.* El Dorado’s consumer app already serves over a million users across 12 Latin American countries and ranks among the top 10 most downloaded financial apps in Bolivia.* The company is cutting remittance fees by up to 80-90% on underserved corridors like Brazil-to-Bolivia and Argentina-to-Bolivia, charging around 1% compared to the 10-12% spreads charged through traditional channels.* El Dorado is building its B2B infrastructure on Tempo, a payments-focused blockchain built by veterans of Stripe and Paradigm, which Goncalvez says will let the company automate more of its payment flows over time.I enjoyed this conversation with Guillermo and I hope you do as well. You can connect with him on Linkedin.Have a great weekend everybody-AWSRecent Episodes Get full access to Bits and Borders at bitsborders.substack.com/subscribe