Brazil created the world's most successful instant payments system. The Pix, launched by the Central Bank in November 2020, processes nearly 8 billion transactions per month and moved US$6.7 trillion in 2025 — a 202% CAGR over five years.

Over 75% of Brazil's population actively uses Pix. It's a global phenomenon without parallel, surpassing even India's UPI in adoption speed.

But here's the paradox: Pix requires a bank account and tax ID. And 34 million adult Brazilians still don't have a bank account. No Nordeste, the North and outskirts of major cities, millions of informal workers — day labourers, street vendors, delivery riders, waste collectors — live entirely in the cash economy.

Pix is free, instant, brilliant — but invisible to those without an account.

Across the Atlantic, Angola faces an even greater challenge. According to the Banco Mundial and FinScope Angola 2022, only 47% of Angolan adults have access to formal financial services.

That's 10.3 million adults completely excluded. A Multicaixa Express, principal plataforma de pagamentos digitais do país, atingiu 1.9 milhões de usuários — mas exige conta bancária e cartão de débito. O Unitel Money Angola (unitelmoney.ao) tem 50.000+ agentes, but the penetração ainda é limitada.

The mobile infrastructure, however, already exists: 30.6 million mobile connections for 37.9 million inhabitants. People have phones. They top up credit constantly. That credit is already stored value — but it's locked.

O conceito de airtime-as-money simply unlocks the value that already exists in every phone.

The idea isn't new — it's the fundamental principle that made M-Pesa in Kenya revolutionise African finance in 2007.

But Unitel Money takes the concept a step further: instead of creating a separate wallet that needs agent deposits, the phone top-up you already do every day BECOMES your financial balance. It's not an extra step. It's not friction. It's using infrastructure that already exists — top-up distribution networks — as financial infrastructure.

In Brazil, the phone top-up market is estimated to move over R$40 billion per year. That's centenas de milhares de pontos de venda — padarias, bancas, lotéricas, farmácias — que já fazem the function of "agentes" informais.

Unitel Money formalises this ecosystem and transforms it into a financial services network accessible to anyone with a phone.

A diáspora brasileira nos EUA é estimada em 1.9 million people. A diáspora angolana é menor em números mas desproporcional em impacto: as remessas oficiais para Angola totalizam $847 million per year, but the OIM estima que os fluxos reais (incluindo informais) podem ser 3-5x maiores.

O corredor EUA→Brasil cobra em média 5-8% de taxas. O corredor para Angola ultrapassa 10%. Cada ponto percentual de reduction represents milhões de dólares que ficam no bolso das famílias em vez dos intermediários.

Unitel Money attacks these corridors with a fixed 1-2% fee, instant delivery to the recipient's phone number, and the option of agent cash-out for those who need physical cash. It's the same promise that Wise e o Remitly make for developed markets — but built for those without a bank account at the destination.

Unitel Money doesn't aim to replace Pix — it aims to reach where Pix doesn't. For 150+ million banked Brazilians, Pix is extraordinary.

But for the 34 million unbanked, for informal workers without a valid tax ID, for those who need to send money to Angola or Mozambique, Pix simply isn't an option.

O Unitel Money preenche exatamente essa lacuna com uma premissa radical: if you have a phone and top up credit, you already have everything you need to participate in the financial system.

O Banco Central do Brasil is working on Pix Internacional, but with no confirmed launch date. Meanwhile, millions of families continue paying 5-10% in remittance fees. Unitel Money operates today.

Segundo a GSMA, the African continent processed $1.1 trillion in mobile money transactions in 2023. McKinsey Global Institute estimates digital finance could add $3.7 trillion to emerging market GDP by 2030.

O Banco Mundial estimates universal financial inclusion could reduce extreme poverty by up to 30%.

In Brazil specifically, Pix data shows that 51.6% of transactions are made by people aged 20-39, o Nordeste representa 26.6% do volume, e o crescimento de digital wallets foi de 20% em 2025 — o mais rápido entre todos os métodos de pagamento (EBANX).

A oportunidade para airtime-as-money é particularmente forte no Nordeste e Norte, onde a banking penetration is lower e a economia informal mais prevalente.

Unitel Money's addressable market is defined by: 34 million unbanked Brazilians, 10.3 million excluded Angolans, 252 million active phones in Brazil, 30.6 million mobile connections em Angola, and remittance corridors moving over $12 billion per year entre EUA, Brasil e Angola.

Se o Unitel Money capturar apenas 1% desse mercado de remessas com taxas de 1-2%, a receita anual supera $120 milhões.

O World Economic Forum identifies financial inclusion as one of the fundamental pillars for achieving the Objetivos de Desenvolvimento Sustentável of the UN.

Unitel Money isn't just a business opportunity — it's a tool for economic justice using the most democratic infrastructure that exists (the mobile phone) to provide access to basic financial services.