The company’s financial problems began on January 3 last year, when it lost a contract with Veon Ltd, a telecommunications company and one of its key partners. This left a $3.7 million shortfall in the company’s finances. However, the situation was further complicated due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022. This was because YO Mobile, owned by the American company Yonder Media Mobile Inc., had the majority of his team in Ukraine and Belarus.
Despite these challenges, the company decided to maintain its operations in Mexico. So YO Mobile embarked on the search for new investors in the country. During this search, it seemed that they had found a Mexican investor willing to contribute capital to their project. However, the negotiations failed.
According to an email to which Expansion had access, “the Mexican investor did not provide the financing” and, as a result, “we were forced to quickly suspend the creation of new content.”
Although YO Mobile stopped offering telecommunications services, the company announced that it would resume the platform where it hosted its digital currencies called YOYO$. This loyalty system rewarded users with points for consuming content on the platform, which could be exchanged for more content or telephone services.
“This technology was our bet, and telecommunications services were used as a strategy to offer added value to users. What we really want to build is something more technology-oriented,” commented an anonymous source related to the process in his moment.
The bet on digital currencies
The company has returned to the telecommunications sector and has decided to bet on digital currencies. In a recent statement, the company expressed its commitment to providing all Mexicans with a continuous mobile experience of 1,440 minutes a day.
YO CEO Adam Kidron announced that when they previously closed, he promised that if they had a second chance, he would give YOYO$ a purpose. Now, the company plans to double the 4.2 million YOYO$ held by its 1.3 million users. Consumers will be able to recover their tokens or virtual currencies through the YO México application.
Kidron also explained that users will have the option to redeem YOYO$ on “YO.bazar”, a new live streaming section within the app that offers products and services. In addition, YO México will provide users with the ability to make unlimited calls and send text messages.
With information from Ana Luisa Gutiérrez