Exports to Cuba: The Compliance-Aware Florida Route
Cuba's private importers need solar panels and batteries. On 30 September 2026 the offshore route closed. The one we mapped runs through Florida, under U.S. export rules.
Tim Parsa · Co-Founder & CCO, QvaPay · 2 October 2026 · 4 min read Subscribe
The most important technologies entering Cuba right now are solar panels and lithium batteries. Private businesses import them by the container because the grid can't keep their lights on. On 30 September 2026 the U.S. closed the route most of them used: dollars wired from Panama or Hong Kong to a factory abroad. So we built one for goods made and sold in the United States, under U.S. export rules.
A Holguín installer orders 200 panels and 40 batteries. They're consolidated in the Port Everglades zone with three other private buyers' orders and sail to Mariel as a U.S. export. The installer pays the exporter from QvaPay against the invoice and shipping documents.
Illustrative example; not customers.
Every bridge I’ve built started at the far end of the last one. The Florida route starts where QvaPay business accounts end: a Cuban private business with dollars and a U.S. supplier ready to sell. QvaPort is meant to close the last gap, the physical one.
Goods exported from the United States, Cuban private businesses, and a payment rail built under U.S. law between them.
The Florida route turns U.S. exports and bank-paid vendor invoices into the import channel for Cuba’s private businesses.
| Flow | How we grow it | U.S. tech meets Cuban talent |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. exports through Florida Export allowed (§515.533) · payment from a Cuban balance: QvaPay's reading, pending with OFAC | A logistics hub in Florida, close to the U.S. manufacturers and distributors we pay. | U.S. makers and distributors sell to Cuban workshops, farms, and clinics, U.S.-made goods first. |
| Assisted vendor payments QvaPay's reading of §515.533/§515.421 · pending with OFAC | SkyMind will pay U.S. exporters by wire from QvaPay's U.S. bank; a Florida logistics hub shortens delivery. | U.S. exporters sell solar panels, tools, and machines to Cuban private businesses. |
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.
With U-turns gone and indirect Restricted List dealings barred, non-U.S. banks may harden their processing of the private sector’s international purchases. On cubanew.com ↗
Sources
- Federal Register, Cuban Assets Control Regulations, 30 September 2026 ↗
- eCFR, 15 CFR part 400, Foreign-Trade Zones Board ↗
- eCFR, 31 CFR § 515.533 ↗
- eCFR, 15 CFR § 740.21 ↗
- cubanew.com, How to sell to Cuba’s private sector from Florida ↗
- Periódico Cubano, Cuba’s private sector imported nearly $1.2 billion in the first half of 2025 ↗
If this was useful, pass it to someone building in Cuba.