Facilitating the sending of remittances and making payments in dollars in Venezuela has become the objective of many companies and startup. One of those initiatives that managed to consolidate was AKB Fintech, but its performance has become a nightmare for its users.
For several days on the social network Twitter you can read the hashtag #AKBDameMiDinero for being in trend. Everything seems to indicate that the platform based in Florida, United States, has not allowed its clients to access their funds for months.
The number of messages against the company, led by Venezuelan Guillermo Scarpanton, has been such that the platform made his Twitter account private, as did the executive with his personal profile on the social network.
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The company, founded in 2019, Presents itself on its website as “a financial alternative created by a group of young entrepreneurs and technology experts who seek to offer security and financial stability in the lives of its users”.
Lorena Bornacelly, a Venezuelan journalist who receives her payroll from AKB Fintech, express that she is not willing to lose her money. «Many nights I have thought about this and it even gives me a migraine, because my work is worth it and my money is not given to me».
AKB Fintech was an option to avoid devaluation
In some statements made to this medium, Bornacelly explained that AKB Fintech held meetings with the directors of the communication medium in which he works, to offer them the services of its platform and they accepted.
“Receiving payments in bolivars is not an option and it is not easy to have foreign currency, so this type of platform, which gave the possibility of receiving dollars, was a kind of solution,” the journalist said.
Bornacelly reported that the problems with AKB Fintech have been occurring with “increasing severity” since the end of November. He assures that the platform “has always been deficient” but the provision of the service has gone from bad to worse, there are even people waiting for his funds for 65 days, he commented.
In bolivars it is worse (receiving payments), because in addition to the fact that the rate is incredibly low, they take too long, so the money is devalued more, that is, if a dollar is normally 4.70 bolivars, they sold it to us at 4, 10 and after 15 days when they sent it, it was already at 4.80 in the market.
Lorena Bornacelly, user affected by AKB Fintech.
The case of Lorena Bornacelly is not the only one. Agricultural producer José Morales was also affected by AKB Fintech, and commented that has not been able to buy seeds, manure and fertilizers for the new planting cycle.
«I will be unable to sow because of these people; It’s a scam, don’t fall for it,” Morales said.
Venezuela is facing one of the most serious economic crises in the world. It currently has year-on-year inflation of 405%, according to the Venezuelan Finance Observatory (OVF)and that has pushed the use of the US dollar over the Bolivar, Venezuela’s local currency.
That is where options such as those of AKB Fintech come into the scene, as they allow you to operate with foreign currencies and receive payments from foreign employers; or bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance, as reported by CriptoNoticias.
By AKB Fintech There have been no responses to any of the users. In some cases they have chosen block customers when they demand explanations for their funds.
From CriptoNoticias we have tried to communicate with AKB Fintech, through its official communication channels, but we have not received a response so far.
Bitcoin, a possible solution to the problems of Venezuelans
Although many Venezuelans in a desperate act to flee from the bolívar take refuge in the US dollar, on other occasions they also become victims of companies such as AKB Fintech.
That is why people in Venezuela choose bitcoin as a way to avoid the risks of using the bolivar or the dollar, which also tends to devalue in the long term and is not always suitable for electronic payments in all establishments.
A study by the economist Ángel García Banchs, collected by CriptoNoticias, allows us to see that buying bitcoin has been Venezuela’s best hedge against inflation during the last two years.
In that sense, the leading cryptocurrency in the market has become the best protection against inflation of more than 39,000% that Venezuela has had during the last two years.
During the period in question, bitcoin has increased its value from USD 8,021 to USD 40,777, the current price of the cryptoactive. That means that those who held bitcoin during that time, got the value of their money to appreciate more than 400% than if they had saved in dollars.