Q: What are the benefits of using EFEX and how have Latin American companies taken advantage of these benefits?

DZ: Sending and receiving money is a painful process for businesses. They have to deal with different channels: emails, calls, whatsapp, banking platforms, ERPs, to make and track their payments; they have to call banks to negotiate the exchange rate; they can’t know when did their payments arrived. It is a cumbersome and expensive process that lacks transparency. EFEX’s a very intuitive platform and a frictionless process that will save 30% of the time spent in cross-border payments. Plus, we don’t charge commissions, that can go up to $50 dollars per transaction. We can automate many of the more complex and inefficient services that banks provide.

A key differentiator is our invoicing feature, where customers can request payments from abroad. We make the process easier to track and collect, since the payee only needs to make a domestic transaction, avoiding the hurdles of sending an international transfer. We erase the borders for our customer’s businesses.

Q: What can clients expect from the launch for Mexican and US clients?

DZ: We have successfully launched our first product: real-time instant transactions with a control dashboard and no fees. Our instant transactions comply with US and Mexican regulations, allowing companies to monetize the blockchain. We expect to have US$50 million per month in transactions by the end of 2023.

Our strength is our fast implementation. With Santiago Bustamante, co-founder and CTO, we started this project in the summer and raised capital in September. It took us 4 months to build our MVP and we launched a week ago. Our speed allows us to iterate fast enough to respond to the needs of our customers and offer them a first in class solution for international payments. We are in building mode and we are moving faster than expected.

As we believe that international trade should be borderless, we are also building a borderless company capable of putting together the region’s best talent. We are based in Palo Alto, California, which allows us to be close to a network of scientists and innovators in the field, but we also hired the best engineers from Brazil, Peru, Chile and Colombia. Plus, we have Mike Kennedy, Founder and CEO, Zelle, as an adviser.

Q: What are the challenges of pairing financial solutions from different regions and needs in terms of regulation?

SB: This is one of the most challenging components of our solution. Each country has a different approach to regulating blockchain and stablecoins. As deputy minister of the Colombian government, I learned that innovation is possible in financial environments. The key is to build communication channels with regulators and bridge the language between entrepreneurs and government. Ultimately, we all want our economies to grow and have a positive impact but each country faces a different set of restrictions.

Q: What is EFEX’s strategy to keep the company’s information safe when performing international transactions?

SB: We invest many resources to guarantee secure transactions. Using blockchain brings new challenges that can be solved more efficiently than in the traditional financial sector.

Q: What are EFEX’s objectives to help international business?

SB: Globalization promised to eliminate the borders between countries but for many decades we have kept artificial barriers: enclosed financial systems with low competition, siloed payment networks and regulatory restrictions. We envision a world where technology opens the true benefits of globalization.

Q: What can be expected from EFEX in 2023 and in the medium term?

DZ: We decided to start with the US and Mexico, as it is the largest trade corridor on the continent. We are working to open Colombia in March and our plan is to connect 40 countries by the end of 2023. We are also building partnerships to scale up our network and introduce financing through our platform.

EFEX is a cross-border payment solution that helps businesses make international payments, track orders and manage finances. It is building software to give total visibility and control over international B2B payments, lowering transaction costs and making collection and reconciliation easier.