The former Revolut employees Joao Alves and Guilherme Gomes have raised 2.3 million dollars for Bleap, an innovative app that combines the security of blockchain with banking efficiency. In this article, we will see all the details.
A blockchain bank account for the finance of tomorrow: the plan of former Revolut employees for Bleap
Two former executives of Revolut, Joao Alves and Guilherme Gomes, have joined forces to develop Bleap, an application that promises to revolutionize payments through the use of blockchain and stablecoin.
Thanks to a pre-seed funding round of 2.3 million dollars led by Ethereal Ventures, the project aims to offer a decentralized bank account with advanced features that surpass the limits of traditional financial systems.
Bleap is not just an app to manage stablecoin. It is a platform that combines a self-custodial wallet with a Mastercard debit card, allowing users to spend stablecoin in the real world without conversion fees and with cashback up to 2%.
The vision of Alves and Gomes is to create a modern, intuitive, and highly efficient banking experience.
“We wanted an app that combined the power of blockchain with the best of the banking sector”,
stated Alves, who in the past led the credit card program at Revolut.
Bleap is built on the Ethereum Layer 2 Arbitrum network, which ensures fast transactions without additional costs.
The system abandons the traditional seed phrases in favor of a more intuitive access based on advanced technologies such as Multi-Party Computation (MPC), developed by PortalHQ.
This approach allows for the division of cryptographic keys between the user and Bleap’s servers, offering a secure and easy to use experience.
In case of loss of the device, users can recover their wallet through a two-factor authentication (2FA) process and a backup password.
This innovation eliminates the problems associated with managing seed phrases, simplifying the experience for less experienced users.
Stablecoin and integrated DeFi functionalities
Bleap supports a range of stablecoins, including USDC, USDT, USDA, and EURA, allowing users to manage multi-currency accounts with savings rates up to five times higher than traditional banks.
Furthermore, the service offers instant global transactions with no fees, leveraging the advantages of decentralized finance (DeFi).
Stablecoin can be added to the wallet through transfers from external wallets or purchased directly with fiat currencies through an on-ramping and off-ramping service without costs.
Gomes, former head of product teams at Revolut, stated regarding this:
“The blockchain allows us to offer experiences that traditional financial rails cannot even imagine.”
Let’s also look at a practical example of how Bleap works in relation to a payment at a store. Suppose a customer makes a transaction of 5 dollars at Starbucks: Bleap receives the payment request from the Mastercard network, verifies that the user’s wallet has equivalent funds (for example, 5 USDC), and approves the transaction.
Subsequently, the system converts the stablecoin into fiat currency to complete the payment with Mastercard.
This process ensures speed and simplicity, eliminating the need for prior conversions from cryptocurrencies to traditional currencies.
A regulatory challenge successfully overcome
In any case, the path to success was not without obstacles. Integrating a decentralized system like blockchain with a centralized infrastructure like Mastercard required innovative solutions and encountered significant regulatory challenges.
However, thanks to the registration as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) in Polonia and the MiCA regulation, Bleap is ready to expand rapidly throughout Europe.
“The MiCA regulation greatly simplifies operations, allowing a startup like ours to serve the entire EU without having to deal with fragmented regulations.”
Bleap is currently in beta phase with a selected group of users in Europe and plans a full public launch in the first quarter of 2025. The team also has plans to expand into Latin America by 2026 and introduce a proprietary token to enrich the ecosystem.
Furthermore, the app represents a new era for digital payments. Unlike other crypto cards, Bleap does not require the advance conversion of cryptocurrencies, reducing costs and improving the user experience.
Finally, it uses DeFi protocols to offer competitive savings rates on stablecoins, making the platform ideal for both investors and everyday consumers.
“We believe that stablecoins are the killer use case of cryptocurrencies. Bleap is here to prove it.”
