Alternative remittances to Venezuela: ad hoc technological diffusion and monetary pluralism

Venezuelan migrants have historically been excluded from formal money transfer systems. Consequently, the diaspora has a strong culture of using alternative remittance methods. This article examines the use of FinTech infrastructure exploring two remittance modalities. First is digital in-kind remittances whereby grocery items can be purchased remotely online in e.g., US dollars. Second, is use of Zelle (a US payments app which was designed for feeless peer-to-peer transfers within the US). The use of Zelle to send remittances to Venezuela has in turn ‘sent back’ Zelle, itself now used as a payments platform there. These new remittance mediums have profound and under-examined effects on the Venezuelan economy. I use the term ‘ad hoc technological diffusion’ to show the improvised ways in which, how through the practice of remitting money, migrants have also ‘sent back’ new FinTech assemblages and, likewise, how, by using FinTech assemblages, new remittance mediums have been enabled. These two remittance modalities capture the complex relationship between novel financial practices and novel forms of remittances. The article explores how these emerging phenomena are structured by socio-economic inequalities, erratic Venezuelan government policy and external pressures from the US.