Monetae, a regulated digital finance platform in Latin America, recently launched Monetae Markets, opening access to tokenized US equities and ETFs for customers in El Salvador from as little as $5. The launch is supported by Alpaca, a global leader in agent-first brokerage infrastructure, providing the custody and settlement of the underlying US securities.
With the launch, Monetae expands its regulated ecosystem beyond payments and digital assets into global equity market exposure, all within a single platform. We spoke with Eduardo Saca Bahaía, CEO at Monetae, and Raúl Madriz, Monetae’s CPO, to discuss the launch, the infrastructure behind it, and what access to US markets means for investors across Latin America.
Connecting Latin America’s Separated Financial Systems
Monetae was established around a single observation: Latin America is not short on financial products, it is short on the connections between them. “Payments, digital assets, investment products, and traditional financial services operate in separate systems, on separate rails, under separate rules. A saver ends up with one app to pay, another to hold digital assets, a foreign brokerage account to invest, and a bank for everything else, each with its own onboarding, its own fees, and its own limits,” said Madriz.
Monetae connects those systems through one regulated financial infrastructure platform, and its vision evolved from open digital capital markets into an integrated platform serving both consumers and institutions.
“We build for individuals who have the means and the interest to invest but have historically lacked practical access to quality financial instruments. We also build for banks, fintechs, enterprises, and issuers that want to integrate tokenization and investment capabilities without developing the entire infrastructure from scratch,” said Bahaía. “Ultimately, both sides are connected by the same objective: making regulated financial products easier to create, distribute, and access across Latin America.”
Today, Monetae’s infrastructure supports regulated asset tokenization, digital asset services, and investment products, with their consumer app designed to give people a simpler way to manage and invest their money in one place.
Bringing US Markets into A Regulated Platform
Monetae Markets is a natural extension of the company’s broader strategy to bring different financial opportunities into one regulated ecosystem. The product launched with 70 tokenized US equities and ETFs spanning technology, financials, healthcare, real estate, and ETFs. Alpaca supports the brokerage, custody, settlement, and movement of the underlying US securities.
“Latin America does not lack investors. It lacks access. Our collaboration with Alpaca is a decisive step in building the financial infrastructure Monetae envisions for the region. By combining Alpaca’s capabilities in the US securities market with our experience in regulated digital assets, we can bring new investment opportunities to the region through a more accessible, reliable, and intuitive experience,” said Bahaía.
With the launch of Monetae Markets, Monetae can now:
- Offer exposure to tokenized US equities and ETFs from as little as $5
- Provide access to tokenized stocks across major US sectors and ETFs, with underlying shares custodied at Alpaca
- Enable customers to invest without opening an offshore brokerage account, wiring funds to a foreign institution, or having multiple apps
- Support position management, reconciliation, and corporate action processing for tokenized holdings through Alpaca's OmniSub infrastructure
“Alpaca’s infrastructure allows us to focus on what Monetae must solve for the end user: creating a clear, integrated, and regionally relevant investment experience. Our role is to translate a complex financial architecture into a journey where investing, monitoring positions, and managing funds feel intuitive and consistent,” said Madriz.
Engineering Tokenized Access on Regulated Brokerage Infrastructure
The launch of Monetae Markets reflects three converging developments: growing customer demand for digital investment access, the maturation of the tokenized US equities market, and a dedicated regulatory framework for digital assets in El Salvador, under The Law for the Issuance of Digital Assets (LEAD) with oversight from The National Commission of Digital Assets (CNAD).1,2,3 This enables Monetae Markets to launch with regulatory oversight, disclosure obligations, and market integrity requirements in place from the start.
“The Alpaca team brought strong technical knowledge of the US market infrastructure and helped us work through the operational details behind the integration. We brought our knowledge of El Salvador's digital asset framework and the needs of Latin American customers. Combined, that gives us a foundation for connecting regulated digital assets with global capital markets," said Bahaía.
Monetae chose Alpaca because it needed a partner that combined modern, developer-first API infrastructure with the licensed brokerage and operational capabilities required to support access to US equities and ETFs at scale. With this partnership, Alpaca supports Monetae by custodying the underlying securities while Monetae owns the regulated digital asset layer, tokenization, customer onboarding, compliance, and the end-to-end customer experience.
Alpaca’s OmniSub infrastructure was also central to that decision.
“OmniSub is relevant to our model because it provides sub-accounting, position management, reconciliation, trade matching, and corporate action processing, within an omnibus account structure, which are essential when connecting underlying securities to a tokenized product experience. These capabilities support the operational connection between the underlying securities and the regulated digital-asset experience we are building at Monetae,” said Madriz.
“Access to global markets should not depend on where someone lives. Monetae is establishing a regulated path for customers in El Salvador to gain exposure to tokenized US equities and ETFs, and we are pleased to support the market infrastructure underneath it,” said Yoshi Yokokawa, Co-Founder and CEO of Alpaca.
Scaling Responsibly Across the Region
Monetae’s initial focus is on El Salvador as the company prioritizes a reliable launch and the operational foundation for responsible regional expansion. Over the next 12 months, Monetae looks to measure success across adoption, engagement, and operational quality.
Monetae and Alpaca see room to expand the collaboration over time with additional products and capabilities to be evaluated against product suitability, regulatory review, and customer demand.
Contact Alpaca
Interested in learning more about Alpaca’s brokerage infrastructure? For prospective partners, please contact Alpaca’s Sales team at [email protected]
For existing partners, please contact your Customer Success Manager (CSM) or email the Success team at [email protected]
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References
- El Salvador: Blockchain & Crypto Assets – Country Comparative Guides, Legal 500, Accessed August 17, 2026
- El Salvador avanza en Inclusión Financiera según el Global Findex 2025 del Banco Mundial, Portal de Transparencia, Accessed August 17, 2026
- CoinShares x Token Terminal: State of Hybrid Finance 2026, Coinshares, Published August 6, 2026
The content of this article is for general informational purposes only, is believed to be accurate as of the publication date, and should not be construed as investment, legal, tax, regulatory, financial, or other professional advice.
Alpaca Securities LLC (dba "Alpaca Clearing")and AlpacaDB, Inc. are not affiliated with Monetae. Each entity is responsible only for its own products, services, and obligations.
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