Kustodia launches Mexico’s first peso escrow on SPEI

Kustodia, a programmable escrow platform for Latin America, launched Mexico’s first peso-denominated smart-contract escrow on SPEI in Mexico City on April 29, 2026. The service targets high-value peer-to-peer transactions including used vehicles, real estate deposits and business-to-business contracts.

Users initiate an escrow through SPEI and a WhatsApp interface. The buyer sends pesos to a unique account number generated by Kustodia and those funds are immediately locked in a smart contract on the Arbitrum blockchain. The platform uses MXNB, a 1:1 Mexican peso stablecoin issued by Juno and audited by a Big Four accounting firm, so funds remain peso-denominated and are not exposed to cryptocurrency price swings. Once both parties confirm delivery, the contract releases pesos to the seller’s bank account.

Kustodia operates the blockchain layer invisibly to users, who do not need a dedicated app or crypto knowledge. Every completed transaction can be verified on Arbitrum’s blockchain explorer. The company absorbs on-chain fees and charges an escrow commission of 3 percent for standard transactions, with lower rates for volume partners. Kustodia reports near-instant settlement, while traditional escrow agents commonly take several days to complete settlement.

The platform was developed with the Mexican used vehicle market in focus. Kustodia estimates that market at about $60 billion and notes the average transaction is roughly $15,000. The service integrates vehicle history checks from Truora, performs identity verification (KYC) and provides webhook notifications for marketplace integrations to reduce fraud risk.

Additional use cases include real estate rental deposits, crowdfunding and marketplace transactions. Cross-border payments can be routed via USD Wire. Kustodia offers web3-native escrow that supports USDC and MXNB on Arbitrum and Injective. The company plans a Brazil expansion in 2027 to add support for the Brazilian real via Pix. A public API, webhooks, documentation and a demo are available on Kustodia’s website.

Kustodia cites estimates that payment fraud removed tens of billions from the global economy in 2024 and that Latin America records a high fraud rate. The company references data putting Mexico’s annual economic damage from fraud at roughly $600 million and presents its SPEI-based, peso-settled smart contracts as a way to reduce risk in high-value peer-to-peer transactions without requiring cryptocurrency wallets or new apps.

Rodrigo Jimenez, founder and CEO, recalled losing money in a peer-to-peer deal in 2021 and provided this statement: “Mexico’s $60 billion used vehicle market runs almost entirely on stranger-to-stranger transactions with no protection for either side. I spent three years building the infrastructure that should have existed.”

Kustodia describes the service as intended for marketplaces, developers and platforms that need programmable escrow for large transactions. The platform runs on Arbitrum and Injective and uses SPEI and USD Wire as fiat rails.