Latin America’s First Bitcoin App with Cash-Out Locations Just Hit the Market

Guatemalans can now buy, sell and pay with Bitcoin at a rapidly growing network of retail locations, following a partnership between OSMO Wallet and Lightning infrastructure experts IBEX. The new partnership brings Bitcoin-based financial services to one of the most under-banked regions in the world. Around 70% of the population in Central America have little or no access to basic financial services and rely exclusively on cash, even though smartphone penetration is incredibly high!

Launched in June 2022, OSMO’s mission is to help the unbanked access financial services through Bitcoin. To achieve this, OSMO Wallet has partnered with the remittance company AirPak, which provides money transfer services at nearly 8,000 retail points from Mexico to Costa Rica. The app was designed for users to easily create their profiles and quickly top-up their balance in US Dollars or Guatemalan Quetzales, for now. OSMO Wallet has both on-chain and lightning capabilities, thanks to IBEX, without the need for users to adjust settings. Its unique design approach creates a truly inclusive user experience.

This partnership also includes OSMO BUSINESS – a lightning enabled point of sale for merchants to easily accept Bitcoin. This solution is also built on IBEX’s API services. This solution has set a record go-to-market time for Bitcoin products in Latin America. OSMO aims to push Bitcoin adoption to more than a million retail points across LATAM within the next five years, bringing true financial inclusion to millions for whom Bitcoin is not a commodity, but a real need.

“Latin America has one of the most under-banked populations in the world, and Bitcoin has the potential to be truly transformational,” said Piero Coen, co-founder of OSMO Wallet. “The challenge of exchanging Bitcoin for cash has been a major roadblock to adoption. By bringing cash convertibility for the unbanked across LATAM, we’re changing the game. Thanks to IBEX’s Lightning infrastructure, cheap, fast, and hyper-convenient transactions are now possible. Together with our partners, we are levelling the playing field, enabling anyone to take part in the global economy, and bringing a range of life-changing financial services within people’s reach.” 

“Our partnership with OSMO Wallet is a major milestone in our mission of hyperbitcoinization powered by the Lightning Network” said Esteban de la Peña, Partner at IBEX. “By demonstrating how easily and quickly we can enable financial services to go to market using the lightning network we can actually empower local communities that have historically been excluded,” he added. “Our infrastructure services will transform people’s lives, while making LATAM a compelling case study and proof of concept for other under-served communities across the globe .”