Luis Silva, founder and CEO of CloudWalk © 2022 Latin American Financial Publications, Inc. This text was copied at 6:45:18 PM on 07/07/2022. Additional copying of this piece is not authorized. Copyright policy: https://www.latinfinance.com/pages/copyright-policy
(Luis Silva, founder and CEO of CloudWalk)

Brazil’s CloudWalk set to launch blockchain

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Brazilian fintech CloudWalk is set to launch its own blockchain, a ledger that records cryptocurrency transaction and operations.

The goal, which is already being met, is to escalate the business. With its own network, it can handle 500 transactions per second – 70 times more than before, when it was based on blockchain platforms such as Ethereum and Polygon. Luis Silva, founder and CEO of CloudWalk, wants to make money move at the speed of light.

“Blockchain enables this speed. For example, when shop owners sell using Visa or Master, it takes up to 1 day for them to receive the money. With blockchain and our currency, they can receive the money in up to 2 seconds,” Silva said.

The currency he refers to is the Brazilian Digital Real (BRLC) stablecoin, launched in December 2021. BRLC is offered as cashback for transactions made on CloudWalk’s InfinitePay payment machine.

According to the startup venture, more than 130 thousand users are already using the Brazilian Digital Real.

CloudWalk which provides payment solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, has been growing at a rapid rate. In 2021, it grew at an average rate of 240%, ending the year with 506 thousand customers in more than 5 thousand Brazilian cities. Its solutions, which had been here present in 150,000 stores in November 2020, could be found in more than 204,000 at the end of 2021. By 2022, the goal is to double in size. According to Silva, the company aims to become Brazil’s top 1 solution in the coming years and then expand to the US and Europe.

Founded in 2013, Cloudwalk had previously raised USD 150 million in a new investment round and had reached a market valuation of USD 2.15 billion. The round drew participation from Coatue Management, Valor Capital Group, DST Global, A* Capital, and The Hive, among others. The funds will be allocated mainly to hiring talent (CloudWalk currently has a team of 300 employees in five countries) and developing new products.