How to help friends and family in Cuba
Sending money to Cuba from Canada (or anyone with a CoinBase account)
The cheapest and fastest way to send money to Cuba is via crypto.
As little as 5min to send CUP to a card.
They get as much as 580CUP per $US (elTOQUE is 505 today Feb 24/2026)
A few general comments on the process:
The process is straight forward but there are a lot of steps
Be very careful when sending USDC that you use the right network your your money will be lost
When bidding on CUP on QVAPay, the deals that seem too good to be true usually are and the vendor never replies.
If you find errors or have questions ask me on WhatsApp or email lightupproject@icloud.com
1) The first step is to buy some USDC crypto coin. USDC always stays at $US1 so we use that to avoid the volatility of BitCoin.
Get a Coinbase or WealthSimple account. I will assume Coinbase for the rest of these instructions
Send money to your account either by linking an account, or Interac eTransfer (Canada) or any supported method outside of Canada.
Buy some USDC (USD Coin) and buy a small amount, like $15, to practice
2) Send the money to an exchange that will deliver it. I recommend BitRemesas (simpler) or QvaPay (they get even more money)
2a) BitRemesas
Go to https://bitremesas.com
Enter your phone number and email, as the sender
Choose CUP, the black circle from Método de entrega:
put the CUP account card number of the recipient in Tarjeta del Beneficiario
Enter a $US amount in Monto en USD (Minimum $US10)
VERY IMPORTANT: Pick blue USDC ETH button in Seleccione el método de pago: in the Estables: section
Scroll to the bottom and pick Enviar Remesa
Copy the long string of letters and numbers below O transfiere a esta billetera:
something like 0x00D9e561AA5cbE033dC6492E49a8fF6e9A55c18C
Leave the BitRemesas window open and create a new browser window. You will need to return to BitRemesas
Go back to Coinbase
Scroll down until you see your USDC holdings
Click the menu to the right and pick Send
At the top where it says Email, address, invoice or ENS paste in the long string of characters that you copied from Coinbase (0x....)
Click on the same number that will appear below
Pick Etherium
Return to the BitRemesas screen and copy the amount of USDC below Esta cantidad exacta
Go back to Coinbase and make sure it says USDC in grey. If not click the little arrows immediately below
Paste in the amount from BitRemesas. It should now read something like "10USDC" with the value below in small blue letters
Click Preview
Click Exchange
Double check
In the second line is says the exact amount of USDC that BitRemesas is expecting
In the Send to field the string of digits matches BitRemesas
The Network is Etherium
I can't stress enough that if you get the Send to or Network wrong your money will go into BitCoin hell never to be seen again. If you get the amount wrong, I think eventually they will find it and credit you.
BitRemesas support is actually VERY good but you need Telegram and find them "BrCustomerSupportBot"
Finally click Send Now
You can also send $US cash with BitRemesas but it is minimum $500 and I have not tried it but I bet it is fine. They do it at 1-1 in Havana and $0.95 in the other major cities.
If you find errors or have questions ask me on WhatsApp or email lightupproject@icloud.com
2b) QVAPay sending CUP
You can get more than 10% more CUP by using the QVAPay P2P, but it is a bit more complicated.
I have personally sent CUP several times without issue. I have little doubt that sending cash is almost as easy but I just have not needed to do so yet.
Process is backward from BitRemesas. You fund QVAPay in advance and with any crypto and they convert it to QVA bucks called QUSD
Go to QVAPay.com
Click + Recargar
Pick an amount of $US/USDC you want to send. For example $10. The result sent will be 0.5% more because of the small service charge
Search for USDC in Buscar por nombre, simbolo o red and select USDC (MATIC) Pol. This is USDC on the Polygon Network
Click Depositar $10 en USDCMATIC (The amount may differ from $10 if you chose to send more or less)
You may also see a shortcut to USDC (MATIC) and you can click Depositar $10 en USDCMATIC
Go back to Coinbase, leaving the Depositar USD visible.
Scroll down until you see your USDC holdings
Click the menu to the right and pick Send
Go to QVAPay and copy the long string of characters beside Wallet: (There is a tiny icon to copy it for you)
Back in Coinbase at the top where it says Email, address, invoice or ENS paste in the long string of characters from Wallet:
Pick Polygon (Note this is different from BitRemesas because Polygon is free. BitRemesas does not support Polygon for USDC)
Go to QVAPay and copy the quantity beside Total a pagar:
Click on the same number that will appear below
Go back to Coinbase and make sure it says USDC in grey. If not click the little arrows immediately below
Paste in the amount from QVAPay. It should now read something like 10.050000USDC with the value below in small blue letters
Click Preview
Click Exchange
Double check
In the second line is says the exact amount of USDC that QVAPay is expecting
In the Send to field the string of digits matches QVAPay (though the code is often truncated in the middle with an elypsis ...)
The Network is Polygon
I can't stress enough that if you get the Send to or Network wrong your money will go into BitCoin purgatory never to be seen again. I don't know what happens if you get the amount wrong but it will slow down the transfer to be sure.
Finally click Send Now
After a minute you will see a Checkmark appear when it is processed
Now you have QUSD in QVAPay and you can use that to send CUP or $US cash to Cuba in minutes. Here is how to send CUP:
In QVAPay, click on P2P on the left side. You will see all the offers to buy and sell. Vender is people that want QUSD. Compar is people that to exchange QUSD for other things.
Click Vender to see everyone that wants QUSD.
Click on the filter icon in the far right that looks like two sliders. In there pick CUP. That will go away and now you are looking at everyone that wants to sell CUP. You can sort them with the Ordenar por: popup next to the filter button you used to select CUP. You can sort them by MONTO. Menor a Mayor would sort them from smallest to largest offers.
Each listing will show how many CUP they are willing to sell for each QUSD (basically per $US). Today the $US is just over 500CUP on the street but you will see that you can get as much as 600CUP.
Look below the vendor's name and you will see two numbers. The first is the number of transactions they have done. The second is their rating. There are so many offers that it makes sense to pick someone that has done a few transactions already and has a good rating
Pick someone that is selling the number of $US that you want to send and click on Vender
The next step is to click Aplicar a esta oferta. It is good to make sure you can chat with the person that is getting the money
Your money for the trade is locked safely away by QVAPay until the transaction is complete or Cancelled.
You can chat with the vendor. Immediately send
the number on the CUP card of our relative in Cuba.
The recipient phone number
Your WhatsApp number
An explanation in SPANISH that you are not in Cuba, assuming you are not, and that you will need to confirm with the recipient when the funds are sent. If it is a small amount and the vendor has a good rating I sometimes just ask for a screen shot of the transfer in TransferMobil. If it is a significant I would ask the recipient if they have it immediately when the vendor says it is sent.
Final step is to Click the green button to say you received the money and that releases the QUSD to the vendor and makes it final.
Well, not quite final because after you release the money you can rate the vendor.
IF the vendor does NOT respond in a timely fashion, you can cancel the offer and try another. Give them a few hours and watch the time difference.
The vending process often takes 2min from when you apply for the offer until your relative has the money.
If you find errors or have questions ask me on WhatsApp or email lightupproject@icloud.com
2c) QVAPay to send cash
Realistically this is only for Havana unless you find someone that has contacts outside of Havana that wants to sell $US cash.
As above but instead of searching for CUP, pick USD Cash (USDCASH) or any of the other kinds of cash (CUP, Euro)
Pick someone that has the amount you want to send and make them an offer
Then you need to chat with them to see how your friend or relative will take delivery. Sometimes they will deliver. Others want you to pick it up. Others meet in a public place.
Clearly take normal precautions when receiving money. Check for counterfeit, quantity, etc.
When the money has been delivered make the deal as complete. Some will want you to confirm delivery before the recipient leaves their sight, which is reasonable too.
You need to pay in Euro
Fees are
€56 to send €500 or 11%
€15.29 to send €100 or 15.3%
Others are Enviodinero, Tocopay, Fonmoney, Duales, or SendValue. They all take about 10%
For example, SendValue is Euro only, €56 to send €500 (11%) or €15.29 to send €100 (15.3%)
RBC or BMO
You can send money directly from an RBC to the MLC account of your recipient. That is only useful at the MLC store and the stocking levels in those stores goes up and down. If you sell MLC on the street you will lose 20% of your money.
The national currency in Cuba is the Cuban Peso. It can be used to buy things at most outdoor markets and many private stores. IFF you can pay with pesos, it is almost often cheaper
Ironically, there are MLC and $US dollar stores run by the government that only take $US. You can pay for them with any Canadian or European credit card but NOT US credit cards. In a very few government stores you can pay $US cash, but you will get no change or change back in pesos or sometimes candy.
The bank machines in cuba work with non-US debit cards but give a terrible rate of exchange; as little as 20x less than current rates.
There are some places like Hotel Nacional where you can only pay with card. This way Cubans can pay with a Peso debit card and pay a LOT less than the price in $US
Changing money in Cuba
Current exchange rates are posted on elTOQUE and it does not actually change that fast so look it up once or just before exchanging.
DO NOT WITHDRAW MONEY FROM A BANK MACHINE
They can give as little as 25 peso to the $US and the current rate is 20x that
Don't change too much because it is hard to change back. It is technically illegal to bring pesos out of the country
At any bank or Cadeca (Airports, major hotels, etc)
safe and reliable
exchange rate is now fair, but as much as 10% less than private exchange
rates are also listed on elTOQUE above
At a person that exchanges money
Ask your casa host or a friend in Cuba. This is word of mouth and it is technically illegal so only change with someone you trust.
Your casa host will take a commission which is reasonable if it is 2% or less. Check the current rate at elTOQUE
If you don't know them ALWAYS count the money you get YOURSELF CAREFULLY. Some will try to short change you. They are magicians.
Don't let them rush you.
At some restaurants (especially in Varadero)
You can ask what their rate is and they will sometimes let you overpay in $US and give the change back in pesos.
Ask the rates. Some restaurants are fair. Some are very much NOT.