LIVE in Miami: AlfredPay and Shokworks bring digital payments (and water) to the #DominicanRepublic
Stellar Global Radio with Sam: Exploring the Stellar Blockchain and BeyondShow Notes
Sam meets with Diego Yanez (CEO of AlfredPay) and Daniel Laplana (COO of Shokworks) to explore how they connected to set up a fintech business that would facilitate seamless and affordable remittances back-and-forth between the US, DR, and Haiti, all powered by the Stellar network. Additionally, we are introduced to Danny Rodriguez, CEO of Blue Missions, and learn how together with a planned commitment of shared profit from AlfredPay, they plan to continue their mission of improving public health in the Dominican Republic by providing families with clean water and sanitary environments.
What is Alfred Pay?
Alfred Pay first came about when Diego Yanez met with his eventual co-founder, Marino Marrero, in the Dominican Republic. Despite the pandemic, the DR still boasted a strong remittance market – the third-largest in LATAM. Haiti’s economy had not fared so well, and many Haitians immigrated to the DR, causing them to send money back to their home country in high volumes. Wanting to leverage the DR’s robust remittance infrastructure ($10.4 billion in 2021), Diego and Marino decided to set up a fintech business that would facilitate seamless and affordable remittances back-and-forth between the US, DR, and Haiti, all powered by the Stellar network. Alfred Pay plans to operate as both an anchor and as a consumer product on Stellar. As an anchor on the Stellar network, Alfred will set up payment corridors between the US, DR, and Haiti.
For the US specifically, Alfred has partnered with Wyre to build a fiat-to-crypto onramp that permits users to access USDC on Stellar. Alfred will then build a crypto-to-fiat off-ramp into the Dominican Republic and Haiti so that users will be able to exchange USDC for local fiat currencies. These on/off ramps will then plug into Alfred Pay’s consumer product: a wallet app that will let users send and receive remittances quickly and easily from their phones. With the wallet app, senders may choose to send money either to another Alfred wallet or directly to the recipient’s bank account; users will also be able to locate their nearest ATM to withdraw funds from their Alfred wallet.
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