Dollarize

Dollarize is a cross-border payments company that lets users open a U.S. dollar account and send money internationally through a chat-style interface. Account opening does not require U.S. residency or a Social Security number, and users receive an account number that can be used to send and receive payments as if based in the United States, including payouts from platforms such as Deel, PayPal and Upwork. Transfers between Dollarize users are described as instant and fee-free, and require only that the recipient hold a Dollarize account rather than an email address, phone number or bank account.

Recipients can spend their dollar balance through an instantly issued virtual Visa card, or a physical card in participating countries, with support for Apple Pay and Google Pay, contactless payments, online and in-store purchases, and Visa protection and monitoring. The apps also support local-currency or USD withdrawals where available, bank transfers to accounts in multiple countries, cash and card deposits in the United States, and real-time balance and transaction history. The company positions itself as a "cross-border Venmo" addressing currency devaluation and inflation in emerging economies, where individuals often cannot hold dollars in local banks, and the friction and cost of international person-to-person payments.

Dollarize is registered as a Money Services Business with FinCEN, an office of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (registration number 31000275098565). Corporate entities associated with the service include Dollarize Inc., Dollarize Financial, Inc. (listed at 222 Pacific Coast Hwy, El Segundo, California) and INVESTORE HOLDING INC. (listed at 195 Montague St, Brooklyn, New York) as the Google Play developer.

Founding story

Founders Diego de la Campa and Esteban Levin previously addressed currency devaluation by offering U.S. investment products to individuals in Latin America. They found that customers struggled to move funds from their home countries into U.S. brokerage accounts, typically having to visit a local bank branch to request an international transfer, and built Dollarize to remove that friction. Eighteen years before the 2024 profile, de la Campa created Mexico's first mutual fund platform, which grew into a broker-dealer with over $350M in assets under management and won a "Best Digital Strategy" award from the Mexican Internet Association.

Business model

Dollarize provides consumer dollar accounts, cross-border transfers and Visa card spending. The company states it charges no account opening fees, no monthly maintenance fees and no minimum balance, and that chat-initiated payments between users are free; its app listings note in-app purchases.

Traction

As of September 2024 the company reported 50,000 accounts across five Latin American countries. The Google Play listing shows more than 100,000 downloads and a 4.2 rating from about 480 reviews; the iOS App Store listing shows a 3.4 rating from 10 ratings.

Latest developments

App releases through 2025 and 2026 added a redesigned withdrawal screen, transfers to bank accounts in additional countries, new destinations including Europe, cash and card deposits in the United States, updated deposit instructions for Argentina, and chat-payment features such as replies, emojis and image, video and audio attachments.