A recent study by the consulting firm CID Gallup revealed that 47% of Ecuadorians say they intend to emigrate to another country due to the situation of insecurity and lack of opportunities, and the post-pandemic economic crisis. According to the results of the last census, the Ecuadorian Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC) reports that 96,000 Ecuadorian households experienced the departure of one or more members. Three hundred thousand Ecuadorians have left the country in the last four years, and on the other hand, 2023 marks the record of deportations of Ecuadorians who tried to reach the United States illegally.

These figures are stated by Juan Carlos Medina, CEO and co-founder of MoneyBlinks, a mobile platform for sending and receiving money internationally, which, after a nine-month pilot from September 2022 and a commercial phase that began in July of that year, was officially launched in Ecuador and the United States.

Sending remittances from the US creates an annual loss of $2.2 billion

As for the pilot, Medina revealed that it was conducted in a controlled manner with 500 clients to test the entire ecosystem and receive direct feedback. “Actually (that feedback) was very valuable, because it allowed us to improve the app, improve the user experience and include more options that customers asked us for, like sending directly to bank accounts, for example,” said the co-founder of the platform ..

He added that the platform aims to strengthen the bond between the migrant and his family despite the distance, facilitating the transfer of money from the United States to Latin America, without the need to share financial information and protecting the data of its users.

How to use the platform?

MoneyBlinks Wallet is downloaded from the Apple Store or Google Play stores, the user must create an account with their basic information and official identification to confirm their identity; This procedure is performed only once and takes approximately ten minutes.

Then the newly created account is instantly verified and approved, and the person can ship and order using their debit card, credit card or bank account with just three clicks.

The client can send money to any of his contacts on social networks, to the bank accounts of family members or to anyone in Ecuador, with the certainty that the money will be visible in a maximum of ten minutes.

Those who receive money can do so in their bank account or withdraw cash through the nationwide Servipagos network.

How much does the service cost?

Regarding the cost of the service, Medina added that with MoneyBlinks, every new account in the United States gets $10 and the first three shipments for free, so the user can see for himself the safety and effectiveness of MoneyBlinks by sending a test shipment to his family. As for the cost of each shipment, if a user wants to send from $0 to $100, they only pay $3.99; or from $501 to $1,000, the price is $8.99. Likewise, it is possible to access packages of blinks (shipping), for example: a package of 100 prepaid blinks costs $299, that is, each shipment is $2.99, regardless of the amount.

Remittances sent from Ecuador to Mexico increased by 282.98% in the first quarter of 2023: money is used for expenses, paying coyotes and rescuing kidnapped people at the border

Currently, MoneyBlinks operates in the United States and Ecuador. During 2024, it is planned to expand to Colombia, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico. Medina stated that MoneyBlinks is a company authorized and regulated by the United States Federal Financial Services Administration (Fincen), and is licensed as a remittance operator in Ecuador by the Central Bank of Ecuador. “Regulators in all countries require the highest security standard, so information is always secure through advanced encryption and digital security algorithms,” the CEO noted.

“The Ecuadorian market is very important, from a commercial point of view, for sending remittances. We started in Ecuador because the partners are from Ecuador, but the expansion plans are very ambitious and cover countries where the amount of remittances received compared to their GDP is higher,” said Medina.