Stellar Development Foundation Invests $15 Million in Mexico-based Bitcoin Exchange Airtm

The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), the nonprofit behind the Stellar blockchain, through its venture arm invested $15 million in the Mexican cryptocurrency exchange Airtm.

SDF invests $15M in @theairtm, a digital wallet and peer-to-peer exchange platform for Latin America. Airtm is integrating with Stellar to make transactions more efficient and cost-effective for users.https://t.co/mBnUNV05NJ

— Stellar (@StellarOrg) May 25, 2021

According to the press release, Airtm will use the funds to develop its own technology platform. The investment also contemplates integration with Stellar in 2022.

SDF noted that this was the largest deal for its venture arm. In 2021, the fund made five strategic investments totaling $24.5 million. Since its inception in the 2020 financial year, the Enterprise Fund has invested $33.76 million in fintech and blockchain companies.

Airtm is the operator of a P2P platform for trading cryptocurrencies and a digital wallet that allows users to connect bank accounts. The company is also the issuer of the US dollar–backed stablecoin AirUSD.

According to SDF, in 2021 Airtm served 165,000 consumers and businesses, and its platform processed more than 2.5 million transactions totaling over $200 million.

In August 2020, Venezuelan authorities restricted access to Airtm. The opposition planned to distribute through the exchange $18 million seized from President Nicolás Maduro among healthcare workers.

Earlier in January 2021, SDF invested $5 million in the payments blockchain company Wyre to expand its ecosystem.