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Venezuelan crypto app Kontigo built its image on noise, speed, and big promises, but now US authorities have placed it under scrutiny after the Trump administration decided it was time to get hostile with Venezuela.
Once the U.S. military illegally removed Nicolás Maduro from power, that contradiction stopped being easy to ignore, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Silicon Valley hype is what fueled a quick rise for Kontigo
Kontigo was founded in 2023 by Venezuelan entrepreneur Jesus Castillo, who framed himself as a small outsider fighting giant banks. He packed his team into a luxury house in San Francisco and streamed hackathons online. He talked about building a neobank for Latinos. He even talked about Mars.
That pitch worked. The company entered Y Combinator and raised more than $20 million in December from big-name funds, including Coinbase Ventures and Alumni Ventures.
Castillo said the app had 1.2 million users across Latin America and South America. He said more than $1 billion had already passed through the platform.
The product lets users trade local cash for dollar-pegged stablecoins. Those tokens could then be used for payments and basic banking tasks. Outside Venezuela, the message focused on inflation and access. Inside the country, the reality looked very different.
Crypto rails carry oil cash through sanctions
Inside Venezuela, Kontigo operated with approval from the state. It held a license from the country’s crypto regulator Sunacrip through a local company called Oha Technology. The license was signed by the finance minister.
Castillo later celebrated receiving it in private group chats in January 2025. “The reality is that Kontigo’s success has been forged after years of hard work, resilience, and perseverance, without being anyone’s son-in-law, nephew, or cousin,” he said.
At a closed event in Caracas last December, Kontigo’s materials showed how oil sales were being settled with stablecoins. Economist Asdrúbal Oliveros explained to attendees that sanctions had blocked normal banking paths. Crypto filled the gap. In the second half of last year, nearly 80% of Venezuela’s oil revenue arrived as stablecoin payments.
Those funds then entered the local economy through banks, trading desks, and licensed crypto platforms, including Kontigo and a rival app called Crixto. One slide at the event read, “The crypto market to the rescue.”
Venezuelan users could also send funds between the app and Banco de Venezuela, even though the bank is sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury. For months, the platform also allowed transfers tied to U.S. bank accounts through intermediaries, even though such activity is largely barred.
Partners pull away as pressure builds
By late December, the doors started closing. JPMorgan Chase cut off access. Stripe ended payment services. Bridge followed. PayPal transactions later stopped working for users.
One U.S. partner said company executives had claimed there were no on-the-ground operations in Venezuela. That relationship ended soon after. The Sunacrip license tied to Oha Technology expired on January 8.
The problems grew louder after journalist Jason Mikula wrote about the company and alleged hidden ties to Maduro’s family. When Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski shared that post, the official account for Kontigo replied that it would hold people accountable for spreading false claims.
Days later, the company said it had suffered a hack. A total of 1,005 users lost about $341,000. The company said all losses were covered.
On January 12, Jesus posted a nine-minute video in Spanish. He said the platform was under attack from critics and hackers. He denied any political ties and said success came from work, not family connections.
Meanwhile, activity slowed sharply. The main public crypto wallet listed on the company website had shown weekly flows in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for months. After January 19, activity dropped to a few tiny test-sized transactions near one dollar each.
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