Case Study

Decaf makes crypto usable and accessible across the world with the Stellar network

Industry

Remittances, On and Off-Ramps

Location

Latin America

Use cases

Stellar Ramps Stellar for Payments

On and off-ramps

Wallets

About

This is Decaf

Decaf is a blockchain-enabled platform focusing on remittances and payments, supporting both a digital wallet and point-of-sales systems.

Challenge

It's hard to use crypto

Traditional banking systems tend to underserve the residents of Latin America and Africa. People find it difficult to accept international payments for remote work, transfer fees are expensive, and their local currencies are at risk of devaluing due to volatile economies.

Many Venezuelans, Argentianians, Colombians and Nigerians convert their fiat into crypto in order to prevent devaluation and safeguard their money from physical threats. But, for example, when migrating across Latin America, Venezuelans are unable to pay for day-to-day services with crypto due to a lack of solutions. Thus, Venezuelans are forced to sell their crypto to intermediaries in exchange for fiat, often at a steep discount.

The Stellar network is super efficient and it costs almost nothing to send money abroad or conduct a transaction. The speed is really fast, making a payment feel nice when it's just a matter of seconds rather than days in traditional banking. But the real beauty of the Stellar network is not just the technology, but that it is also trusted.

Rick Martin, Co-founder of Decaf

The absence of seamless on and off-ramps and the prevalence of high fees required a reimagining of financial transactions.

The Decaf team’s experiences living in Latin America led them to create a solution to remedy these pain points and redefine how Latin Americans engaged with remittances and payments. A portmanteau of “decentralized” and “café” (or coffee in Spanish), Decaf is a payments platform that places a special emphasis on user experience. Decaf is meant to be so easy and convenient to use that a user could use its virtual non-custodial wallet to send and receive money across borders without paying exorbitant fees, hold Circle's USDC on the Stellar network to protect against inflation, and cash out into local currency when needed, or simply purchase a cup of coffee. On the flip side, a merchant can use Decaf’s point-of-sale system to accept payments in crypto.

By leveraging the Stellar network, Decaf reinforced its commitment to providing a secure and accessible platform for its users. The Stellar network’s reputation for efficiency, fast speeds, and low costs was a natural fit for Decaf's mission. And by integrating with MoneyGram Access™, Decaf enables their retail users to on-ramp their fiat into Circle’s USDC on the Stellar network and off-ramp back out into fiat at any participating MoneyGram location.

Building a wallet is easier than ever

Try Out the Wallet SDK

Building a Stellar-enabled wallet or application is faster and easier than ever. Implement the Wallet SDK to offer innovative payment services powered by the Stellar blockchain’s global network of on and off-ramps.

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Results

Addressing a critical challenge, Decaf has given thousands of Latin Americans the ability to navigate effortlessly between crypto and fiat without having to worry about borders, all on the Stellar network.

To Decaf, blockchain represents affordability and accessibility to the financial system for people all over the world. As Decaf continues to build on its current offerings and beyond, its ultimate goal remains the same: to provide financial services previously only found in traditional financial systems to people who can’t even open bank accounts.

$200K

Worth of USDC on the Stellar network off-ramped per week

100%

QoQ growth in on-and-off ramps

6

Continents where Decaf users use MoneyGram Access

Contact The Experts

Want to know more?

Contact us today to learn how your business can use the Stellar network to enable frictionless cross-border payment services and how the Stellar Development Foundation can help.

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