While they may be called something different in every country, corner stores offer convenient access to snacks and beverages as well as phone minutes and remittances. The former CEO of a Pakistan-based payments company Brandon Timinsky wants to add stablecoins to the list of what these mom and pop businesses handle.
As stablecoins—a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a value in line with the U.S. dollar—become an increasingly integral option for settling cross-border payments, Timinsky wants to make it possible for people to exchange cash for crypto at any corner store with his company Zar. To do so, he has raised $7 million from Dragonfly Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and VanEck Ventures, with additional participation from Coinbase Ventures and the co-founders of the Solana blockchain, to launch Zar’s flagship service.
The company’s valuation in the deal was not disclosed.
After founding SadaPay in 2019—and selling it in 2024—Timinsky is seeking to harness the benefits of crypto in emerging markets. Since 2021, stablecoins like USDT and USDC have exploded into a $238 billion industry, including helping people outside of the U.S. settle cross-border payments and protect their wealth from inflation.
Timinsky says his company will take advantage of the 28 million global registered mobile money agents—a person or business contracted to offer financial services outside of a bank—who facilitate more than $1.5 trillion worth of financial services annually.
“Zar is tapping into that infrastructure to create a cash for stablecoin exchange in the physical world,” Timinsky told Fortune. “Like Coinbase is an exchange online, Zar is an exchange that exists in the physical world.”
Timinsky said that while Zar is not available to the public yet, nearly 100,000 customers have signed up for a waitlist and about 7,000 vendors have expressed interest in adding its services to their stores. The interest spans 20 countries, he said, including in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nigeria, Lebanon, and Argentina.
Zar is not initially targeting the U.S. market. Stablecoin use is not as popular in the U.S. because the local currency tends to be more stable and has more robust payment systems than other countries.
It works like this: Customers will walk into a “bodega” in Colombia or “kirana store” in Pakistan and scan a QR code. That QR code will link to the Zar app where the customer can review the vendor’s ratings, check out other nearby exchanges, and enter how much money they would like to exchange for stablecoins. Then, the customer hands over their cash and the stablecoins are deposited into their digital wallet.
Vendors will be able to make money from this service by choosing the exchange rate they will charge customers and adding a margin for themselves to profit, Timinisky said. Additionally, Zar will charge a fee on each transaction which may vary by country.
Zar’s funding announcement is part of a growing movement of stablecoin companies trying to implement the underlying infrastructure to facilitate transactions for the class of cryptocurrency. A company called Rain issues credit cards to customers who want to settle transactions in stablecoins. Another company, Plasma, is building a blockchain specifically designed for stablecoin transactions.
Timinsky says he plans to launch his service by the end of the summer. The company will use the money raised in this round to expand its team, add office space, and continue building out its technology.
