Starknet drives financial inclusion in LATAM with Chipi Pay

Chipi Pay’s prefunded stablecoin wallet leverages Starknet’s scalability to bring Web3 payments to Mexico’s unbanked

The Starknet Foundation is proud to announce its continued support for Chipi Pay, a Mexican-based prefunded stablecoin wallet aimed at delivering seamless, crypto-powered payments to Mexico’s 50 million+ unbanked citizens. Chipi Pay leverages Starknet’s scalable, low-cost Layer 2 infrastructure to power fast, affordable digital transactions—bridging the gap between traditional finance and the Web3 ecosystem for consumers and merchants. 

Chipi Pay offers a simpler, more accessible alternative to traditional banking, particularly for small businesses in Mexico and the broader Latin America market, where payment processing fees can range from 3% to 5% per transaction. In contrast, Chipi Pay facilitates transactions with negligible fees. By offering faster settlements, merchants using Chipi Pay can process transactions without delays. The platform allows effortless payments via QR codes, NFC, and direct transfers. The underlying crypto technology is abstracted away—most users don’t even realise they are using crypto—while merchants receive funds in fiat currency, ensuring frictionless onboarding. This positions Chipi Pay as a consumer tool and a potential ‘crypto rails’ solution for banks and event providers, disrupting the monopoly of large processors.

Other user benefits include: 

• No crypto jargon – The app simplifies the onboarding process for first-time users. 

• Smart accounts – Users enjoy a seamless experience without complex wallet management. 

• Gasless transactions – Paymasters eliminate gas fees, ensuring smooth payments. 

Guided by the principle of ‘ease of use,’ Chipi Pay is designed to be 80% simpler than banks and 10x cheaper than payment aggregators in Mexico. Six months post-launch, the average ticket size on the app grew from $1.5 to $32—a x21 jump driven by trust and higher-value use cases like utility payments and mobile plans.

As part of its success, Chipi Pay secured a major distribution deal, partnering with a leading CPG distributor to place stablecoin gift cards across 270,000+ mom & pop shops in Mexico, driving adoption in a network traditionally reliant on prepaid phone cards. This positions Chipi Pay as the largest stablecoin on-ramp with cash in Mexico, with direct access to over 65% of the country’s economy.

Chipi Pay chose Starknet for its negligible transaction fees, enabling cost-effective payments. Starknet Foundation also provided comprehensive resources that transformed their business—from technical support to product incubation, fundraising assistance, and strategic feedback—accelerating both technology and company growth.

Chipi Pay is led by chief executive officer Carlos Castillo, a former founding chief technology officer of a Y-Combinator-backed company with a proven track record, having raised over $2m in total funding for prior startups.

“Financial services in Mexico need to work for everyone—not just those with access to traditional banking,” said Carlos Castillo, chief executive officer of Chipi Pay. “By building on Starknet, we’re able to offer a payments solution that is truly built for the people—cheaper, faster, and incredibly easy to use. Once users are on-chain, they can spend on essential services, pay bills, or receive payroll all through Chipi Pay and without the need of traditional banking rails. We are excited to work with the Starknet Foundation to make Web3 payments a reality for millions across Latin America.”

“Starknet was built to power the next generation of financial applications,” said James Strudwick, chief executive officer of the Starknet Foundation. “Chipi Pay is an incredible example of how Web3 can drive real-world impact—offering a solution that’s faster, cheaper, and more inclusive than traditional finance. We are proud to support their vision as they scale across Mexico and beyond.”

With Starknet set to become the first Layer-2 to settle on both Ethereum and Bitcoin, increasing the latter’s utility as part of its mission to make payments more accessible, its commitment to Chipi Pay aligns with its core vision for DeFi.

Chipi Pay plans to evolve into a full-service financial platform, expanding beyond payments to offer micro-loans and yield-generating investments, positioning itself as a competitive alternative to Mexico’s banking platforms. Expansion plans include deeper penetration into Latin America and emerging markets like India.

Image: Jezael Melgoza on Unsplash

Robert Welbourn Robert Welbourn is an experienced financial writer. He has worked for a number of high street banks and trading platforms. He's also a published author and freelance writer and editor.