Case Study | UGLYCASH and Tribe Payments

UGLYCASH needed to turn digital-dollar and crypto balances into a Visa card accepted everywhere its users live, across many Latin American markets, without building a processing stack from scratch.

That meant finding a partner able to deliver virtual and physical Visa cards region-wide; with real-time webhook transaction decisioning, giving them control over authorisation approvals; support for major digital wallets, including Apple Pay, Google Pay and Visa Click to Pay; and a program-management model in which the partner could operate Visa Token Service (VTS) on UGLYCASH’s behalf, sparing the fintech the complexity of running VTS operations in-house.

Tribe gave UGLYCASH the Visa expertise, wallet reach and hands-on partnership to turn digital dollars into a card its users could spend anywhere in Latin America, without having to build or run a processing stack of its own.

UGLYCASH now runs its Visa card program on Tribe’s API day to day, processing authorisation and settlement webhooks for every transaction and managing the full card lifecycle. The partnership supports more than 30,000 monthly users and around US$6.6 million in monthly card volume across 15 markets.

Tribe's deep end-to-end expertise across the entire payments process has given UGLYCASH control over its long-term strategy and the freedom to do more - and to do it better.

Visa expertise at regional scale: Tribe’s experience within Visa’s ecosystem and its flexible co-authorisation model gave UGLYCASH a platform for virtual and physical cards spanning 15 Latin American markets, covering the full card lifecycle from issuance through replacement and cancellation.

Digital wallets and tokenisation: Operating VTS on UGLYCASH’s behalf, Tribe enabled Apple Pay, Google Pay and Visa Click to Pay, giving users the tokenised payment options they expect, without UGLYCASH needing to build and run VTS operations itself.

Collaborative problem-solving: When SMS-based 3D Secure proved unreliable across Latin America, causing friction and failed authentications, Tribe worked side by side with UGLYCASH to redesign the flow around in-app verification, resolving the issue and keeping the project on track.

"We’re here to create opportunity for people, and that falls apart if their money can’t move. Tribe gave us the processing platform to make digital dollars into a Visa card that works across Latin America, so people can actually use what they have.

Honestly, the best part is how easy they are to work with. We ask, they respond, and we solve things together. When you’re building fast, having a partner that actually moves with you is everything."

Francisco Caputo Napolano, Card Program Manager, Best Friend Finance

UGLYCASH, by Best Friend Finance, is 'The Opportunity App', a financial services platform (not a bank) that lets people manage, move and grow their money globally. Users hold virtual accounts in USD, EUR, MXN and crypto, spend with a prepaid card, withdraw to local banks, bridge between crypto and traditional banking, and follow other traders through a real-time social-trading experience. UGLYCASH is used monthly by more than 30,000 people and operates under U.S. regulatory frameworks with licensed partners worldwide.

Turning digital dollars into borderless spending power across Latin America

The Challenge

Tribe's Solution

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