Bolivia's VIVA Becomes First Telecom Live on Avalanche-Based Iris Network

VIVA Deploys Stablecoin Rails Built on Avalanche

Latin American telecom operator VIVA has become the first carrier live on Iris, a new Avalanche-based network designed to help mobile operators convert their customer relationships and distribution reach into payments and other financial services.

VIVA, which has operated in Bolivia for more than 25 years and recently expanded into Mexico, is using USDi — a dollar-backed stablecoin issued by stablecoin infrastructure firm Agora — to settle transactions and hold eligible operating reserves in dollars rather than local currency.

The deployment places part of VIVA's financial operations onchain without requiring the carrier to replace the identity, billing and distribution systems already running its business.

Iris Founder Targets Telco Finance Gap

Iris was founded by Jules Miller, a former partner at IBM Blockchain Ventures who helped launch the company's blockchain venture group.

"Iris is the financial network for telecom operators," Miller told CoinDesk. She explained that carriers can plug their existing systems into the network, activate different services and settle activity in U.S. dollars without disrupting core infrastructure.

VIVA CEO Ryan Alvarez said the carrier has invested heavily in modernizing its network and bringing customers into the digital economy. "Iris lets us earn new revenue on that investment and grow into a platform, without replacing the systems our business already runs on," he said in a statement.

$43M Commitment Backs the Launch

Iris debuts with a $43 million commitment from Balesia Group, a family office with telecom businesses across the Americas. The broader bet is that carriers can capture more of the economics generated by infrastructure they have spent decades building.

Between 2012 and 2025, global mobile data traffic grew more than 50% annually, while operator service revenue increased less than 1% per year, according to McKinsey figures cited by Iris.

Telecom operators bring something financial apps often spend heavily trying to build: customers, verified identities and distribution. That can be particularly powerful in emerging markets.

"In the U.S. the operator is like one rail among many," Ava Labs Chief Business Officer John Nahas told CoinDesk. In markets such as Bolivia, by contrast, "the mobile carrier is often the rail that people do everything on."

Early Metrics Point to Strong Economics

VIVA offers an early test of whether that model can translate into better economics for carriers. Nahas said a super-app product used by VIVA helped reduce churn among prepaid mobile customers by 33% while increasing their lifetime value by 35%.

"When you start to see numbers like this, it just starts making a lot of sense," he said, adding that Iris now needs more real-world case studies.

Iris expects its initial expansion to focus on Latin America and potentially parts of Africa and Asia rather than the U.S., Nahas said.

Dedicated Avalanche L1 Powers Settlement

Iris runs on a dedicated Avalanche Layer 1, giving the network control over its settlement, operating and compliance requirements. USDi serves as the settlement asset while also giving VIVA the option to hold eligible operating reserves in dollars.

For VIVA, using a U.S. dollar stablecoin for settlements is particularly relevant in markets with volatile local currencies.

The deployment follows other corporate uses of Avalanche. South Korean trading giant POSCO recently brought trade receivables onto the network, while automaker Hyundai moved a stablecoin-based internal remittance system using U.S. dollar and USDT.

Nahas said the setup is part of a broader push to move established businesses onchain while keeping blockchain largely invisible to customers. A telecom account can effectively become a wallet, dollars can move as stablecoins and financial products can run in the background.

That approach fits Miller's background in enterprise blockchain. She said she has long looked for "real businesses doing real things that actually need blockchain," rather than projects built around issuing a token first and finding a business later.

Iris is now talking with additional telecom operators around the world as it looks to add more carriers and services to the network, she added.

Coinasity's Take

Iris represents a pragmatic step in enterprise blockchain adoption: instead of asking telecom operators to rebuild their infrastructure, it layers stablecoin settlement and dollar reserves on top of systems that already work. VIVA's early metrics on churn reduction and lifetime value suggest that embedding financial services into telecom relationships could unlock real economic value.

The $43 million commitment from Balesia Group signals institutional confidence, though the network will need more carrier deployments to prove the model scales beyond a single case study. For now, the combination of Avalanche's dedicated Layer 1 architecture and Agora's USDi gives Iris a credible technical foundation for its emerging-market strategy.