Success Story
About the Client
mercaDolar, a US based fintech company providing an exchange platform for the hyperinflated Venezuelan market. Venezuela has been facing hyperinflation since a socio-economic and political crisis began in 2016, with the cumulative inflation rate rising to around 53,798,500% between 2016 and April 2019. Amid currency instability, Venezuelans needed a secure solution to convert bolívar for the stable U.S. dollar. mercaDolar’s goal is to provide a secure platform for currency exchange within Venezuela’s restrictive market.
Business Situation and Requirements
The Venezuelan market is known for many legal restrictions, complex multi-layered exchange systems offering unstable exchange rates depending on the people’s needs on purpose. The Venezuelan government provides limited transparency for the conduct of exchange to its citizens. The strict currency restrictions have driven much of Venezuela’s exchange activity to the black market, subsequently increasing the risk of fraudulent transactions.
Mercadolar intended to build a regulatory-compliant, safe exchange program allowing its users from Venezuela and beyond to trade currency. Along with this, they also wanted to provide a secure in-built digital wallet service for users to store multiple currencies, transfer funds, and request payments.
To bring their technological aspirations to life, MercaDolar partnered with Unthinkable following a rigorous screening of leading technology providers. It was our deep domain expertise that gave MercaDolar the confidence to entrust us with the development of their platform. Key hurdles tackled by our team included:
Secure, scalable web and mobile applications: Build a robust currency exchange platform with strong security and scalability.
User experience and interface design: Focus on intuitive UI/UX to make transactions seamless and user-friendly.
Compliance with fintech standards: Ensure adherence to PCI DSS and other relevant financial security regulations.
Digital wallet with advanced encryption: Implement a secure wallet to protect sensitive financial data.
Add and transfer funds: Allow users to add money from U.S. accounts and transfer funds to other mercaDolar users effortlessly.
Request payments functionality: Enable users to securely initiate and receive third-party payments through the platform.
Solution
To kick off a successful engagement, our expert business analysts conducted a deep dive into the client’s requirements, gaining a clear understanding of business objectives and strategic priorities, while also ensuring adherence to PCI DSS and other relevant financial security regulations from the outset.
The solution included a web application alongside native mobile apps, designed to enable smooth, secure buying and selling of U.S. dollars in exchange for Venezuelan bolivars. To accommodate users in areas with limited connectivity, the platform also supported offline payment processing within two hours, ensuring uninterrupted service. This approach not only streamlined currency exchange transactions but also enhanced the overall user experience, balancing technical performance with business needs to deliver a reliable, efficient, and user-friendly financial solution.
High-Performance Cross-Platform Architecture
The application’s server-side was powered by ASP.NET Core for scalability and performance, while Angular 7 on the front end enabled faster development with improved tooling and accessibility. The result is a responsive, high-performance web application optimized for modern users.
Secure Digital Wallet & Financial Integrations
The mercaDolar digital wallet enables users to securely store funds, link bank accounts, and send or receive money using face recognition, fingerprint authentication, and secure passwords. It also supports automatic currency exchange with custom rates and real-time notifications, along with seamless integration with accounting systems, payment gateways, and POS platforms to ensure smooth and efficient transactions.
Accelerated Development with CI/CD & DevOps
Unthinkable adopted a DevOps strategy with Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery, making the release cycle five times faster and reducing mean-time-to-deployment (MTTD). This approach freed up time for testing and quality assurance, reducing development time and optimizing project costs.
Cloud Deployment & Performance Monitoring
The app was deployed on Microsoft Azure with cost and performance optimization, leveraging Azure App Service and static website hosting. AWS DynamoDB handled high-scale workloads with low latency, while Azure Application Insights monitored performance, detected anomalies, and provided actionable analytics for continuous improvement.
The Impact
Through strong technical leadership in architecture and design, our team helped mercaDolar build a secure, scalable, high‑performing currency management system, and accelerate delivery. Unthinkable played a key role in establishing a robust technological foundation by selecting and implementing the most relevant technologies and expertise.
We delivered a reliable, efficient currency exchange platform with an in‑built digital wallet, empowering users to transact seamlessly in Venezuela and internationally. The project achieved a 5× faster release cycle and 25% cost optimization through effective DevOps practices.
600
Hours Of Development Effort Saved
5x
Faster Release Cycle
25%
Cost Optimization For Feature Releases
