Between 2017 and 2023, the Latin American and Caribbean FinTech ecosystem grew by an impressive 340%. As we move into 2025, startups in the payments and crypto sectors are setting their sights on LATAM, drawn by its expanding government and cultural support of crypto and alternative payment platforms. Yet, while opportunities are vast, experts caution that succeeding in the region requires a nuanced understanding of its diverse markets.

To explore what it takes to scale a FinTech business in LATAM, we spoke with Alessandro Cecere, CMO and Co-founder of El Dorado, a company bridging the RTP gap between stablecoins and 70+ of LATAM’s Top Finance Apps.

LATAM’s fragmented market: "The biggest challenges for scaling a startup in LATAM are cultural and regulatory," says Cecere. "Investors often view it as a single region, but in reality, it’s highly fragmented. While Spanish is the predominant language—except in Brazil—each country has its own slang, consumer preferences, and way of doing business. Similarly, the regulatory landscape varies, requiring startups to assess their legal viability on a country-by-country basis."

LATAM’s diversity means that a one-size-fits-all approach rarely works. Companies looking to scale must adapt not only to different financial regulations but also to consumer behaviors that shift dramatically from Mexico to Argentina.

Freer markets: El Dorado is tackling one of the region’s biggest financial bottlenecks—cross-border transactions. By integrating stablecoins with LATAM’s top finance apps, the company is working to remove friction from US dollar transactions.

"Our vision for El Dorado is to foster freer, instant currency markets by accelerating US dollar payments in Latin America, powered by stablecoins," Cecere explains. "Anyone should have the freedom to choose in which currency they want to sell their goods or services."

This strategy is already yielding results. "Venezuela is our biggest market, with over 100,000 active users and more than 350,000 downloads," says Cecere. "In 2024, we became the most-downloaded crypto app in the country, surpassing Binance."