How Crypto Will Actually Win in Latin America | With Santiago Roel
In this week’s episode of Frontera, we sit down with Santi Roel, a sharp operator and deep thinker at the intersection of crypto, fintech, and Latin American markets. We dive into his transition from investor to founder, and the massive opportunity in onboarding the underbanked.
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00:00 – Intro & Meeting Santi
01:11 – From Investor to Founder: Same Skillset?
05:13 – Founder Struggles & The Myth of the Easy Path
08:48 – Broken Onboarding Funnels & Dollar Demand
12:14 – Distribution Challenges in Crypto
20:20 – Fintech vs MVNO: Investment Logic
26:27 – Capturing Attention in a Noisy Market
34:00 – Real Talk on User Acquisition & CAC in Crypto
41:15 – Remittances, Stablecoins, and UX Friction
52:13 – The Intern Strategy for Local Market Insights
59:23 – Banks, Stablecoins & The Decentralized Future