Tribal Credit, Bitso, Stellar Development Foundation Partner to Enable Faster, Cheaper Int’l B2B Payments in LatAm

SAN FRANCISCO, December 9, 2021 — Tribal Credit, a B2B payment and financing platform for emerging markets, is joining forces with leading Latin American crypto exchange, Bitso, and the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), to create instant and cheaper cross-border payment services between Mexico and the US.

Tribal Credit’s new cross-border payment service enables companies in Mexico to send B2B payments in Pesos to the US, where recipients will receive the payments in USD.

Mohamed Elkasstawi, Tribal Credit's Chief Strategy Officer who is spearheading the company’s blockchain efforts, said, “Our goal is to save time and money for SMBs across LatAm who are sending payments to the US, particularly payments that are time-sensitive or require improved traceability.”

Sixty-two million SMBs are transacting globally every year, with the LatAm region representing a $175 billion market opportunity led by Mexico. Tribal Credit’s faster and more affordable cross-border payment option is facilitated by Bitso, the most liquid crypto exchange in the region, which will enable Pesos to Stellar USDC conversion.

“Bitso and Tribal Credit share a common mission of providing top-tier financial services to SMBs across Latin America,” said Carlos Cota, Product Manager at Bitso. “Our hand in providing rails for moving funds from Mexican to US businesses reflects our belief in the potential for cryptocurrency to revolutionize payment transactions in a global digital economy.”

Tribal’s cross-border payments will utilize the open-source Stellar network, a decentralized sustainable network for financial products and services that supports cross-currency transactions and digital asset issuance.

“Partnerships like this show how Stellar ecosystem companies can help improve and extend financial services in emerging markets. Combining the lending capabilities of Tribal with Bitso’s exchange, and leveraging the low cost and high speed of Stellar USDC, this partnership has the potential to significantly expand financial access for SMBs in the LatAm region,” according to SDF Vice President of Business Development and Partnerships, Mark Heynen.

Using a proprietary, AI-driven approval process, Tribal provides a suite of financial services to help SMBs in Latin America pay expenses and optimize their financial management, including multi-currency corporate VISA cards with spend controls, credit lines for on-card purchases and a payroll service for employees and contractors.

“With Tribal Credit’s new cross-border payment service, we’re leveraging blockchain technology and cryptocurrency for backend design to dramatically improve front-end user experience,” said Arvind Nimbalker, Global Head of Product of Tribal Credit. “Businesses can enjoy all the benefits of blockchain technology without needing to become experts in the space.”

Tribal Credit beta launched in December 2019 offering corporate cards and a spend management platform for startups and SMBs in emerging markets. With the increased demand for more efficient online B2B banking experiences, especially at the onset of the pandemic, Tribal Credit expanded its payments and financing products to include Tribal Pay, helping customers settle non-card purchases and benefit from extended payment terms.

With expertise honed at leading tech companies and financial institutions, Tribal Credit’s founding team of serial entrepreneurs, data scientists, and fintech execs have built and scaled startups in both emerging markets and the US. To spearhead its growth as it scales across markets, the company attracted a global management team of former HSBC, Visa, Experian, Mercado Libre, American Express, Nubank, Marqeta, Didi Pay, among other leading startups and top financial institutions.

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About Tribal Credit

Tribal Credit is a financing and payments company built for emerging-market SMBs looking for a better way to pay and finance business expenses and increase their financial efficiency. The US-based startup provides modern payment methods like multi-currency physical and ​virtual business Visa cards​, local and international wires, short-term financing, and a powerful ​spend management platform​ to track and control expenses—all in one seamless interface. Founded by serial entrepreneurs, data scientists, and financial execs, Tribal Credit is on a mission to empower emerging-market SMBs to grow and compete in a global economy. Tribal Credit is backed by QED Investors, BECO Capital, Global Ventures, Stellar Development Foundation, Endure Capital, 500 Startups, Endeavor Catalyst, and OTG Ventures. The company is also part of the Visa Fintech Fast Track program among an elite group of companies. Learn more at www.tribal.credit 

About Bitso

Bitso is the leading Latin American crypto-first platform with a community of over 2.75 million users. The company offers three main products: the Bitso App for new or experienced cryptocurrency users to buy, sell, send, or receive crypto in a simple and intuitive way; Bitso Alpha, a professional-grade crypto trading platform; and Bitso Business, a suite of cross-border products that enable businesses to thrive in a global digital economy. Bitso is one of the few crypto exchanges, and the only one in Latin America, to obtain a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) license from the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC), a sovereign agency that has developed one of the most advanced frameworks for regulating cryptocurrency trading. Bitso is also the first and only exchange in Latin America to insure its users’ funds.

Founded in 2014, with over 400 employees across 30 different countries, Bitso is working to make crypto useful by liberating the world from traditional financial players and redefining money. To learn more about Bitso, visit bitso.com

About Stellar

‍Stellar is a decentralized, fast, scalable, and uniquely sustainable network for financial products and services. It is both a cross-currency transaction system and a platform for digital asset issuance, designed to connect the world’s financial infrastructure. Dozens of financial institutions worldwide issue assets and settle payments on the Stellar network, which has grown to over 5 million accounts.

About Stellar Development Foundation

‍The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) is a non-profit organization that supports the development and growth of Stellar, an open-source network that connects the world’s financial infrastructure. Founded in 2014, the Foundation helps maintain Stellar’s codebase, supports the technical and business communities building on the network, and serves as a voice to regulators and institutions. The Foundation seeks to create equitable access to the global financial system, using the Stellar network to unlock the world’s economic potential through blockchain technology. Learn more at www.stellar.org.