Venezuelan cryptocurrency app Contigo has built an image on noise, speed and big promises, but it is now under surveillance by U.S. authorities after the Trump administration decided it was time to turn against Venezuela.
After the U.S. military illegally ousted President Nicolas Maduro from power, the contradictions were no longer easy to ignore, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Silicon Valley hype fueled Kontigo’s rapid growth
Kontigo was founded in 2023 by Jesús Castillo, a Venezuelan entrepreneur who set himself up as a small outsider taking on the big banks. He packed his team into a luxury home in San Francisco and streamed the hackathon online. He talked about building a neobank for Latinos. He also talked about Mars.
The pitch worked. The company joined Y Combinator and raised more than $20 million in December from big-name funds like Coinbase Ventures and Alumni Ventures.
Castillo said the app has 1.2 million users in Latin America and South America. He said more than $1 billion has already passed through the platform.
The product allows users to exchange local cash for stablecoins pegged to the dollar. These tokens can be used for payments and basic banking. Outside Venezuela, messages focused on inflation and access. Domestically, the reality looked very different.
Cryptocurrency rails transport oil cash through sanctions
Within Venezuela, Contigo operated with state recognition. The company had obtained a license from Sunacrip, the country’s cryptocurrency regulator, through a local company called Oha Technology. The license was signed by the Minister of Finance.
Castillo later celebrated receiving it in a private group chat in January 2025. “The reality is that Contigo’s success was built on years of hard work, resilience and tenacity, without being anyone’s son-in-law, nephew or cousin,” he said.
At a private event in Caracas last December, Contigo’s documents showed how oil sales are being settled in stablecoins. Economist Asdrubal Oliveros explained to attendees that the sanctions had prevented the normal path of banking operations. Cryptocurrency has filled that gap. In the second half of last year, almost 80% of Venezuela’s oil revenues were received as stablecoin payments.
These funds then flowed into local economies through banks, trading desks, and licensed crypto platforms, including competing apps called Kontigo and Crixto. One of the slides from the event said, “Crypto market comes to the rescue.”
Venezuelan users can also transfer funds between the app and Venezuelan banks, even though the bank is licensed by the U.S. Treasury Department. For several months, the platform also allowed transfers tied to U.S. bank accounts through intermediaries, but such activity was largely prohibited.
When pressure mounts, partners withdraw.
Doors began to close in late December. JPMorgan Chase blocked access. Stripe has discontinued its payment service. A bridge followed. After that, PayPal transactions stopped working for the user.
One U.S. partner said company executives had insisted there was no local operations in Venezuela. That relationship ended quickly. The Sunacrip license associated with Oha Technology expired on January 8th.
The problem escalated after journalist Jason Mikula wrote about the company, alleging hidden ties to Maduro’s family. After Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski shared the post, Kontigo’s official account responded by holding those who spread the false claims accountable.
A few days later, the company announced that it had been hacked. A total of 1,005 users lost approximately $341,000. The company said all losses have been compensated.
On January 12, Jesus posted a nine-minute video in Spanish. He said the platform has been under attack from critics and hackers. He denied any political ties and said success came from work, not family connections.
Meanwhile, activity slowed down sharply. A major public cryptocurrency wallet listed on the company’s website had weekly flows in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for several months. After January 19, activity decreased to a few small test-sized trades near $1.
