List of financial services, bank accounts, and cards that require KYC but accept Cedula or PY residency for account opening or conversion.
Material primarily for European citizens.
This document is continuously updated.
The document can be easily shared with this link: g.vu/moneytopy
Schwab International - USD Account
https://international.schwab.com
Requirements:
- Proof of residency in Paraguay, such as a bank statement
- Passport
Benefits
- Free registered US account with the ability to receive and send ACH.
- You can also receive SEPA transfers to a European bank, which are then converted to USD with a 1% fee.
https://international.schwab.com/resource/instructions-to-transfer-money-to-your-schwab-account
- Non-contactless debit card; you can withdraw cash from all ATMs at market exchange rates, and Schwab reimburses the ATM withdrawal fee.
Monerium - EUR Account
https://monerium.app
A bank account that can receive and send to third-party accounts, which can be opened with a Cedula and PY residency.
The use of a wallet as a metamask is required, because upon deposit, the funds are converted into a proprietary EUR stablecoin, and upon sending, a conversion always occurs. Both deposits and sendings are 1:1 with no fees.
Therefore, it is also useful for receiving payments from third parties, for example, as a freelancer, without sharing any european ID data.
Mtpelerin
https://app.mtpelerin.com
Another EUR account, which can be opened with a coupon and PY residency.
However, when withdrawing EUR over approximately 548 euros, there is a 1.3% fee, which can be reduced by purchasing tokens.
Upon receiving, you also have to choose which token to automatically convert to. You can choose Bitcoin or other tokens, including stablecoins tied to the euro.
Wise - USD / EUR Account
https://wise.com
The account must be opened as a European resident, the virtual card must be activated, and possibly the physical one, "and later", the residency must be changed to Paraguay.
It will no longer be possible to renew cards, but existing ones should remain functional.
Opened bank accounts will remain active.
The USD account allows you to:
- send ACH with a flat fee of $1.13
- receive ACH with zero fees
Receiving limits:
$20,000,000
Movement limits:
$35,000,000
The EUR account allows you to receive and send with zero fees.
Paysera
https://www.paysera.com
The account must be opened as a European resident, and then converted to Paraguayan residency.
When changing residence, do not change your identity document; keep your European passport, or you will be asked for another document as an immigrant to Europe.
Ordering a physical or virtual card before changing residence may allow you to use the card afterwards, but this has not been tested.
Remitly
https://www.remitly.com
Another remittance service, but usually the exchange rate from EUR is better on Paysent.
It can be good if you need to exchange other currencies than EUR to PYG.
Zen - EUR Account
https://www.zen.com
The account must be opened as a European resident, the virtual card activated, and possibly the physical one, "and later", your residency must be changed to Paraguay.
You can also top up with cryptocurrencies - 0.5% fee
EUR transfer to another account: 0.25 EUR fixed fee
Fee details: https://www.zen.com/files/pricing/individual_pricing.pdf
Revolut - Please note: you can also set your Paraguayan tax code, but your residency can't be different then the european.
https://revolut.com
Useful for sending to local bank cards in Paraguay, with a commission of approximately 1%.
Paysend - Money transfer service, supports sending to PY accounts from EU accounts/cards.
https://paysend.com
Better exchange rate than WU and Remitly.
Requires a European phone number.
This is the simplest and quickest service.
Once certain thresholds are exceeded, they may begin requesting more documents, including the Cedula.
Utoppia - USD Account - Zero ACH Receiving Fee - $1 Sending Fee
https://www.utoppia.com
Various Fees: https://www.utoppia.com/pricing
Kraken
https://www.kraken.com
- Good for receiving EUR from your accounts and converting to stablecoins and vice versa
P2P Markets:
- Binance
https://www.binance.com
Good for the USDT/BTC -> PYG p2p market
- OKX
https://www.okx.com/
- Bybit
https://www.bybit.com
- El Dorado
https://eldorado.io
- BingX
https://bingx.com
Where to check out various offers:
https://yadio.io/market.html
https://p2p.army/
Interactive Brokers
Trading account for receiving EUR or USD and obtaining the best market exchange rate between the two, and sending back to your accounts.
https://www.interactivebrokers.com
It's a good idea to make a few small transactions every now and then, not just in and out, to avoid the risk of account closure.
You can send a free outgoing ACH transaction once a month; after that, the cost is $1 per transaction.
Fluidkey - USD / EUR Account
https://www.fluidkey.com
Free monthly transfers up to $3,000, then 0.3%.
By increasing your account score, making transfers, or having a large deposit, you can transfer up to $20,000 without a fee: https://docs.fluidkey.com/readme/bank
USD deposits are converted to USDC, and EUR deposits to EURC.
Sling - USD/EUR Account/Zero FX Fee Card
https://sling.money
- USD/EUR/MX weight deposit fee: 0.1%
- Zero FX fees
Limits:
- $7,500 week
- $20.000 per month
- Daily card usage: $2,000
Deposits in EURC/USDC/USDP on the Solana network converted to USD or EUR at zero fees.
Ready - Zero FX fee card + 0.5% cashback
https://www.ready.co
Deposits in:
- USDC zero fee
- Other cryptocurrencies approximately 0.08% fee
Duo - USD / EUR account (and others)
https://due.network
Non-denominated EUR account that can receive from anyone. - Fee: €0.90
Nominal USD account. ACH receiving fee: $1.50 + 0.2%
You can also send fiat to other accounts:
EUR fee: €0.90 fixed fee
USD fee examples:
- For $10: $0.53 fee
- For $100: $0.80 fee
- For $1,000: $3.50 fee
Uglycash - USD and EUR account - Card with 1% FX fee but 1% cashback in another token
https://ugly.cash
- Personal but non-nominal EUR account, zero deposit fee (for now), good exchange rate.
You can only receive funds from business accounts or personal accounts in your name.
- Personal USD account: fixed fee of $2
- Deposit conversion of USDT/USDT and other stablecoins at 1:1
- Earn: 8%
- Card with 1% FX fee but 1% cashback in other tokens
Argentine app that allows you to directly convert bitcoin or stablecoins to PYG on PY accounts.
The exchange rate isn't the best, but it can be convenient.
On weekdays, a transfer can take two hours; on holidays or weekends, it can take up to a day or two.
Fuse - Zero FX Fee Card (iOS only for now)
https://fusewallet.com
Since I don't have an iPhone, I can't test it. More details here:
https://fusewallet.com/support
GnosisPay - Zero FX Fee Card - Doesn't currently support PY residency
https://gnosispay.com
Tria - Zero FX Fee USD Card + 1.5% Cashback
https://tria.so
Card price: $20 annually (in the future: $25 annually)
Ether.fi - USD Card with 1% FX but 3% Cashback (within certain limits)
https://ether.fi
Information on the 1% FX fee:
https://help.ether.fi/en/articles/304414-what-s-the-foreign-exchange-fx-rate-on-cash-purchase-transactions
Information about the Cashback:
https://help.ether.fi/en/articles/262374-how-does-cashback-work
Lists of other cards with cashback potential. If the cashback is 1% or slightly higher, it practically covers the FX fee, which is often between 1% and 1.5%:
https://www.cryptocards.so
https://crypto-card-aggregator.vercel.app
Bitwage - Invoicing service from Paraguay - 2.5%/3% fee for receiving PYG
https://bitwage.com
Useful for avoiding setting up an LLC in the US.
You can also receive EUR and send it to another EUR account; the fee in this case should be 1%.
You can only receive funds from business or crypto accounts.
Some combinations and considerations:
For the best exchange rate to get to Paraguay from crypto, without going through Paysend, but still using an exchange.
Kraken with py residence, not LLC -> crypto -> 0.2% fee -> EUR -> wise -> fee approximately 0.458% -> USD -> fixed fee 1.3 USD -> Schwab -> card -> ATM (market exchange rate and ATM cashback fee)
- With Uglycash
crypto -> defi fee 0.2% or less -> USDt or USDc -> uglycash -> USD -> fixed fee 2 USD -> Schwab -> card -> ATM (market exchange rate and ATM cashback fee)
Kraken in this case is only useful if you start from EUR, and it's a 0.2% fee.
Even the EUR -> USD exchange rate on uglycash doesn't seem bad, so you could also do:
EUR -> UglyCash -> USD -> fixed fee 2 USD -> Schwab -> card -> ATM (market exchange rate and ATM cashback fee)
Uglycash currently also allows you to earn an 8% annual profit, so:
With 1,000 euros, which then become dollars, about 9 days to Recover the $2 in future fees for transferring to Schwab.
So if the amount is higher, obviously fewer days. (With €2,000, about 4/5 days, etc.)
With Schwab, which can also receive EUR transfers, and the USD exchange has a 1% fee, anything above 1% isn't worth it, unless you want to avoid banks and only go crypto -> cash.