Caracas, Valencia, and Maracaibo are the first three cities in Venezuela in which the AKB Fintech firm will begin to install ATMs to withdraw dollars in cash. Get familiar with the 6 keys of the project.
This Friday, October 16, the AKB Fintech Company announced that it will install 3 ATMs in Venezuela to dispense US dollars in cash. According to the information provided, the ATMs will work as of Saturday, November 7, 2020, in the cities of Caracas, Valencia, and Barquisimeto.
This was reported by the president of the AKB Fintech firm, Guillermo Scarpantonio, in a radio interview directed by journalist Román Lozinski, and cited by various national media. As relevant data, the maximum daily withdrawal would be $200 and the minimum was established at $20.
Project status
According to Scarpantonio, the firm is currently in “the process of complying with ATMs standards of correct operation and security.” By November 7, they hope to carry out the first operations.
The interviewed explained that it would be the firm’s clients who could withdraw the cash. AKB Fintech is a firm that currently specializes in financial technology intending to help those who find it difficult to access currencies such as the dollar, through its main product, the Mía wallet.
For Scarpantonio, it is a fact that there are already three ATMs in dollars in Venezuela in the process of installation and adaptation. He even mentioned in the interview that “another group of ATMs are also ready to start installations”, although he did not mention locations.
Finally, he added that they are “adjusting the last details of testing at the server level from the US to Venezuela so that the process is expeditious and reduce most of the problems when dispensing cash.”
PayPal as the main protagonist
Scarpantonio mentioned that mainly, the withdrawal procedure would be through AKB Fintech’s Mía wallet, in dollars directly. “Whoever has funds there can withdraw in cash,” he said.
He also provided the following example: “If you are a freelancer and your employer pays you through PayPal, you can connect your PayPal account to AKB through an allied platform called American Time Holding LLC.
You buy a gift card with a PayPal balance and reload it in your AKB wallet. Then you withdraw by cashier “. Scarpantonio did not give more information about this allied company. PayPal, as is known, is a company that, like many others, is making efforts to integrate itself into the cryptocurrency industry very soon.
Security and its risks.
As many in Venezuela know, the issue of security is of great importance in a project of this nature. And as it appears to be, Scarpantonio is clear about it, considering it “a complicated issue due to insecurity, the process of moving money from one place to another and the high costs of doing so.”
In this sense, says the interviewee, that thanks to technology, they will focus only on money that is already in establishments and in businesses that currently receive dollars. In this way, he stated that “We will not put people’s lives at risk to transfer large amounts of dollars. Simply, the same money that is already in the shops will fill the ATMs “.
He also added, “ATMs will be in strategic points where there is access to public transport, with good parking. In Caracas, they will be close to the Metro, so that people have easy access to these shops, enter the store, make their purchases, and be able to withdraw their dollars”. Supermarkets, pharmacies, hardware stores, etc., would be the type of shops in which these cashiers would be, ended Scarpantonio.
By: Jenson Nuñez.
