Paradigm leads $9 million investment in stablecoin payments platform El Dorado

Paradigm has led a $9 million Series A funding round for Latin American payments platform El Dorado as the company expands stablecoin-powered cross-border transfers across underserved markets in the region.

According to a June 15 announcement from Paradigm, the investment was made alongside Coinbase Ventures and Verda Ventures, with the firms backing El Dorado’s effort to build payment infrastructure for cross-border transactions in Latin America.

Ricardo de Arruda, partner for investing and research at Paradigm, said the region handles more than $100 billion in annual cross-border payment volume but continues to rely on systems that are slow, expensive, and difficult to navigate.

“Cross-border payments in Latin America represent one of the most underserved and underreported opportunities in global finance,” de Arruda said. 

Founded in 2022 by Latin American immigrants, El Dorado said it now serves more than 100,000 active users and has processed over 5 million transactions across the region. The company currently operates in 12 countries, including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Ecuador.

El Dorado targets overlooked payment corridors

Offering a different view of the market opportunity, El Dorado co-founder and CEO Guillermo Goncalvez said in an accompanying statement that the annual cross-border payment activity in Latin America is closer to $1 trillion when broader flows are considered.

According to Goncalvez, roughly 60% of those transactions involve business-to-business payments tied to imports and exports between the U.S. and Latin America. Beyond those well-known routes, he said some of the strongest demand comes from payment corridors that large financial technology firms often overlook.

One of El Dorado’s busiest routes today connects Brazil and Bolivia, a market Goncalvez said remains underserved despite strong commercial activity. He added that countries such as Bolivia, Paraguay, Ecuador, and Peru receive less attention from larger fintech providers including Nubank and Wise.

Alongside consumer payments, El Dorado has introduced a dedicated business platform for companies moving money across borders. According to the company, the service combines fiat and stablecoin payment rails within a single application while supporting multi-signature and multi-organization account structures.

Goncalvez added that more than 100 business customers have joined the platform, with imports of electric vehicles from China emerging as one of the most common use cases.

Built on Tempo, a Layer 1 blockchain developed through a partnership between Paradigm and Stripe, the service forms part of a payment infrastructure strategy both organizations have been developing this year. Josh Itzkovitz, GTM at Tempo, said the network allows businesses worldwide to open accounts regardless of whether they maintain a U.S. legal entity.

The investment also adds to Paradigm’s growing activity outside traditional crypto venture funding. In recent months, the firm has backed manufacturing company SendCutSend in a $110 million funding round, partnered with Stripe on the Tempo blockchain network, and participated in policy discussions surrounding stablecoin regulation in the U.S.

Earlier this month, Paradigm submitted comments to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation urging regulators not to restrict third-party stablecoin reward programs, arguing that such limitations extend beyond what Congress approved under the GENIUS Act. Those efforts, together with the launch of Tempo and the El Dorado investment, place stablecoin-based payment infrastructure at the center of several of the firm’s recent initiatives.