Living in a undevelopment country has many disadvantages (and if that country face sanctions is worst), but if you know where to look, there is many opportunities too. Some of this opportunities require money to invest, other just need the imagination, effort, abilities and knowledge from the creator.
Cuba, my country, due US government sanctions against the dictatorial Cuban Government don’t have access to the main financial platforms (say Paypal, Visa, Mastercard, Exchanges, Brokers, Ebay, etc.). For this reason, we the cubans cannot insert ourselves into the global and internet market easily.
I tell you all this because you need to have the context, and because it is true, to understand the primary subject that I will analyze today.
Image from Pixabay
Cuba have mobile data internet just in 2017, so we can say that the interaction of cubans with the online world is still in a baby stage. People use this new tool primary to access social networks like Facebook or Instagram and messages apps like WhatsApp or Telegram. The P2P sell and buy groups start to transitioning from classifies ads webs to groups of Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram.
I recognize that this ambit is primitive but extremely effective if you want find products in your area. More when the Cuban Government have the control of all the minorities shop stores and the e-commerce solutions that they offer are almost always empty’s or with low demand products.
This groups are the perfect refugee for the small and informal private sellers, but pass a time they are not enough.
In this ambient comes the Covid-19 pandemic and force an involuntary and massive migration to the online world. Before the lack of work and incomings and earnings, cubans start to explore alternatives and a big percent of people and entrepreneur find the cryptocurrencies.
Of course, until that moment crypto was the geek or necessity money. Almost none business or client now about that and remain sceptic to start use it. The cuban private business refuse to accept it due the volatilization and the miss of a market to exchange the crypto (even the stablecoin) to local FIAT currency to be able to buy raw material and pay his employees.
Is then when a cuban programmer and entrepreneur figure out and solutions and start to development to make it a product for Cubans. Erich García create Qvapay a payment gateway that allows deposit and withdrawals in cryptocurrency or FIAT money.
Screenshot taken by me from the web of Qvapay
For provide security to business to implement this platform at a payment gateway for his products and services they operate with a stable unit.
When you deposit any of the cryptocurrencies accepted by Qvapay your balance is upgrade with the equivalent to dollar. That way as business you can accept crypto payments and be protected against volatility.
The emerging of this platform create around it news forms of business and personal and community economies. Many start to do functions of exchange peers using the P2P option or start to receiving here the incomings for they freelancers services. Others create startups of remittance to Cuba using Qvapay.
In this way, the creation of a solution for a local (or maybe personal) necessity results in a platform that today has report users in all Latin America, USA and some countries from Europe.
The structure of Qvapay is define as a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). In addition, they use the blockchain technology for assure the security and transparence of all transactions inside the system. Internal transactions that have the advantage of being free of fees.
This allow users to use directly the SQP (Qvapay balance) to pay another users or business for a product or service.
Maybe you are thinking that already exists technologies and platforms that do the same things, but I have to remember you: majority of them do not accept cuban people as users.
The fintech entrepreneurship of Qvapay not only allow cubans insert ourselves into the global market of products and services, allow too that entrepreneurs, business and people around the world access to high quality cubans solutions and services.
Now in 2023, thanks to Qvapay and the use of cryptocurrencies many people can work by internet and have better earnings that working for abusive and low payment jobs that the totalitarian Cuban Government offers. Or at least give the chance of have an extra income, this way a certain number of cubans are more economically free working as community managers, video and photo editors, programmers, etc.
This platform has things to improve, above all in the support area that still is very slow to attend, but the development team always is working in aggregate new features or fix any detected problem. However, I want to point out that Qvapay receive in the past many unjustified criticisms from people that don’t understand the functioning of platform or people that are haters of Erich García the programmer and principal face of Qvapay.
Funny to me, most of that irrational attacks coming from persons that are programmers too or have the money to develop some similar solutions, but they don´t. They calling the platform a monopoly of the Cuban Government; unaware, naively or deliberately, that Qvapay is a private DAO and that already exist private cuban and foreign solutions for do the same things you do with Qvapay.
By fortune of us, the quality of the platform and the reasoning and confidence of the users prevail. Qvapay have 2+ years working as payment gateway without a single negative incident and More and more business are integrating it increasing the uses cases for the SQP.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of road to go, mostly in relation with the technological and financial education. Many cuban people are still naive before situations that involve data protection and phishing.
Personally I use Qvapay for my own entrepreneurship CANJE that involve too the Hive blockchain, but I will like that others systems come out offering similar or new solutions. I am from the firm opinion that while more competition exists better result get the users.
