Havana, 1997 to Cuba, 2026
Twenty-nine years ago I flew to Havana on a magazine assignment with my best friend from college, JP Thieriot. What hasn’t changed, and what QvaPay changes.
Tim Parsa · Co-Founder & CCO, QvaPay · 11 September 2026 · 3 min read Subscribe
In 1997 I flew to Havana on assignment for New York magazine with my best friend from college, Juan Pablo Thieriot. We flew in from Adrian Steckel's wedding in Mexico City. My story, "Club Red", was the cover of the 17 November issue.
What hasn't changed
I could go because I went as a journalist. U.S. tourism to Cuba is still not permitted, and in 1997 most dollars reaching the island went where the government wanted them: state hotels and state stores.
What QvaPay changes
Today the better way to hold and use dollars in Cuba is QvaPay, and those dollars reach the independent private sector: families, casas particulares, paladares, workshops, developers. Not the state companies that own the resort hotels. Every party is screened so no QvaPay dollar reaches the state.
Uphold, and the Board
In 2013 JP and I co-founded Bitreserve, later Uphold, which he led for years as chairman and CEO. Airtm began on Uphold. QvaPay's first U.S. bridge ran through Airtm. In September 2026 JP joined QvaPay's Board as an independent director.
I came back from that trip asking what it would take for an ordinary Cuban to get paid, buy, and build in dollars without asking the state. The answer was a phone, a dollar backed one to one, a peer market, and a compliance program the U.S. government can examine. It took twenty-nine years and five companies to build.
In 1997 dollars went to state hotels. These flows send them to families and private businesses.
| Flow | How we grow it | U.S. tech meets Cuban talent |
|---|---|---|
| Remittances Permitted · 31 CFR §515.570 (U.S. senders) | Marketing by use case to the diaspora in Miami and beyond; every sender and recipient screened. | Diaspora dollars become working capital for families and the private businesses they start. |
| MIPYME business accounts QvaPay's position · pending with OFAC (Case CU-2025-1426925-1) | MIPYME accounts marketed by use case, supported from our Miami HQ; financing for Cuban buyers once OFAC clarifies it. | Cuban entrepreneurs buy U.S. equipment and software and run their companies in dollars. |
| P2P forex Pending with OFAC · no authorization asserted | SkyMind matches orders and more screened traders join. | Every trader is a small business: Cubans earn a spread connecting dollars and pesos. |
The potential. Remittances into Cuba run an estimated $1.1–2B a year (2024; estimates vary). At the Dominican Republic’s rate per person, Cuba would receive about $9.8B, five to nine times today. That is the market QvaPay is built to serve.
| Market | Cuba today | Cuba at the Dominican Republic’s rate per person |
|---|---|---|
| Remittances received | $1.1–2B 2024 est., estimates vary | $9.8B DR total $11.9B (2025) |
A scenario, not a forecast. The Dominican Republic received $11.9B in remittances in 2025 across 11.4 million people, about $1,040 a person; at that rate Cuba’s 9.43 million people would receive about $9.8B a year, five to nine times today. Method and sources.
The United States is the only power that can realistically finance and sponsor Cuba’s recovery, which makes engagement, not isolation, Cuba’s only option. On cubanew.com ↗
Sources
If this was useful, pass it to someone building in Cuba.