El Dorado is a marketplace for buying and selling dollars (cUSD), euros (CEur) and Bitcoins with Latin American fiat currencies. We are currently targeting more than 500 million mobile users in the region, where most people face problems of inflation, devaluation of the local currency and lack of access to financial services. Also, we are starting in Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela, where these problems are prominent, and we are committed to using Celo's mobile technology to provide an inclusive solution.

El Dorado is a technology company formed by Venezuelans who live in many parts of the world due to the consequences of hyperinflation and the country's economic collapse. In this regard, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency, more than 6 million Venezuelans, approximately 20% of our population, are currently abroad. In addition, according to the Cato Institute, hyperinflation has devastated Venezuela to such an extent that we are heading for the longest hyperinflation streak in history with 46 consecutive months of hyperinflation.

Why another P2P marketplace?

El Dorado is natively designed for stablecoins, an approach that prioritizes mobile devices and will soon have high-performance savings accounts in USD.

Why is El Dorado better?

We decided to build a P2P exchange method from scratch because we believe it's the right approach for our target market. Latin America has more than 38 currencies and hundreds of different payment methods. This situation creates friction when doing international business, and most of the time, ordinary people suffer from these inefficiencies by paying very high fees for simple things like sending remittances or money transfers.

Over time, El Dorado plans to improve the user experience 100 times better than other P2P platforms currently operating. We know that if we want to achieve mass adoption, we must provide a service where buying dollars is as easy as sending a text message on Whatsapp.

Experiencing hyperinflation firsthand has also taught us the importance of having access to a more stable currency such as the U.S. dollar. Saving in a stable currency is something that most citizens of first-world countries take for granted. However, in many places in LATAM, it's a luxury or, worse, a matter of life and death. That's why we believe that a digital dollar is the gateway to a new economy where financial products and services can be denominated in multiple currencies and a friendlier step towards supporting cryptocurrencies.

To use El Dorado's P2P services, our users only need to provide their email address, phone number and create a password. By signing up, they will be able to create accounts in USD, Euro and Bitcoin for free. In turn, whenever a user wishes to transact on our P2P marketplace with their local payment methods, all they need is to complete a very easy user verification process that will grant them access to our suite of financial products.

Our P2P marketplace consists of a reputation system, an escrow, and a chat with a dispute mechanism to ensure the security of all transactions on the platform. As we grow, we plan to expand the reach of our services to most countries in the Latin American region and allow more payment methods. You can access our services from our Android application or from our web application. We'll also be adding iOS support by the end of the year.

Where are we heading?

We plan to position El Dorado as the main entry and exit ramp for the Celo community in Latin America so that they can easily access a rapidly growing ecosystem with multiple opportunities. As we scale, we plan to become a bridge for international business between Latin America and the rest of the world. To fulfill that vision, we need to offer competitive and innovative services that can help our region's growing young middle class population that is desperate for financial alternatives, particularly those that offer the ability to generate extra income in a strong currency.

This project is inspired by growing crypto communities in places like Argentina and Venezuela, where adoption occurs out of necessity and not out of speculation. Now, we also want to incorporate users who are not experts in cryptos, showing them the benefits of transacting in stable digital currencies and accessing a new class of financial services where we will see the emergence of savings accounts, loans, remittances, payments and many other products denominated in strong, global currencies, giving them easier access to the crypto economy.

We are on a very important mission to eradicate inflation and extreme poverty in our region and we will need the help of many other actors. El Dorado is already part of the Celo Alliance for Prosperity, which is a group of more than 150 companies and organizations aligned to create a financial system that creates conditions of prosperity for all.

Join us on this exciting journey and let's bring financial inclusion to every corner of the world. We're here for the long term and we won't rest until all people have access to the benefits of an inclusive financial system that puts prosperity and happiness above all else.