How Bleap’s Founders See the Future of Finance

Rebuilding Finance from First Principles

How Bleap’s Founders See the Future of Money

When João and Gui joined the Scaling Europe Show after announcing Bleap’s $6 million seed round led by Blossom Capital, the discussion quickly moved beyond fundraising. It became a conversation about infrastructure, about the limitations of modern fintech, and about why the next evolution of finance will not be cosmetic.

What follows is a written perspective on the key ideas they explored during that conversation. It captures selected themes and moments from the episode, not the full dialogue.

If you would like to watch the complete discussion, you can access it here:

Gui Gomes and Joao Alves: Raising $6m to build a fintech completely on the blockchain

Bleap is not trying to build a prettier bank. It is trying to rethink the system underneath it.

At the center of the founders’ thinking is a simple but radical idea: if you upgrade the rails, you upgrade the outcomes.

The Ledger Is the Real Product

For the last decade, fintech companies improved how banking feels. They optimized onboarding, redesigned interfaces, and reduced friction in payments. But according to João, they did not fundamentally change the accounting layer.

“Bleap is an attempt to build a fintech completely on the blockchain.”

He explains the thesis clearly:

“If we replace the traditional ledger with a blockchain-based ledger using completely non-custodial technology, and connect it to the real world, we can provide customers with better outcomes.”

This is not a branding decision. It is a structural one.

A ledger defines how money is recorded, settled, and reconciled. If the ledger changes, the economics change. Cost structures change. Speed changes. Access changes.

Bleap’s premise is that blockchain is not just a payment mechanism. It is a new accounting infrastructure for financial services.

Payments Should Reward You, Not Tax You

One of the most immediate areas where infrastructure matters is payments. Traditional card systems involve multiple intermediaries, each capturing a portion of the transaction economics.

João frames it in practical terms:

“When users are doing payments, we believe we can process them more efficiently to provide them with higher cashback.”

The key word is efficiently.

If transaction settlement becomes structurally more efficient, the margin available to return to users increases. Cashback then becomes a byproduct of improved rails rather than a temporary marketing subsidy.

This is an important philosophical shift. Bleap is not trying to outspend competitors on rewards. It is trying to make rewards economically sustainable through better infrastructure.

Savings Built on Global Liquidity, Not Local Constraints

Savings accounts illustrate the infrastructure gap even more clearly. Traditional banks operate within tightly regulated, locally bounded capital systems. Yield is constrained by central bank policy, liquidity requirements, and balance sheet limitations.

Blockchain-based finance introduces a different model: global liquidity pools and programmable capital allocation.

João describes it simply:

“When they are doing savings, we think we can leverage DeFi protocols to provide higher saving yields.”

This does not mean users need to understand decentralized finance. The point is that the backend can access different capital dynamics than a traditional savings account.

Bleap’s ambition is to abstract that complexity away while allowing users to benefit from it.

The technology should be invisible. The yield mechanics should not be.

Access to Markets Without Geographic Friction

Investment access is still uneven across countries. Brokerage fragmentation, regulatory silos, and settlement inefficiencies limit what many users can trade.

João sees tokenization as a structural improvement rather than a speculative novelty.

“We can provide tokenized versions of trading stocks or any assets… with lower spreads and access to all assets globally.”

Tokenization can reduce the layers between execution and settlement. Fewer layers often mean tighter spreads and faster processing.

The founders are not describing a crypto exchange. They are describing a global access layer where location matters less and infrastructure does more of the work.

Cross-Border Transfers That Move at Internet Speed

Few financial processes expose legacy friction more clearly than remittances. Cross-border transfers often require multiple banking systems to reconcile, introducing delays and costs.

João explains Bleap’s model concisely:

“We use blockchain for the cross-border leg and then local settlement to make sure anyone can really use it.”

In this structure, blockchain handles the global transfer. Local financial rails complete the final settlement.

The result is not theoretical decentralization. It is faster delivery and potentially lower cost.

The internet already moves information globally in seconds. The founders believe money should move with similar efficiency.

Beyond User Experience: The Case for Infrastructure Change

Gui articulates the broader philosophical shift.

“Changing UI and UX makes things better. But there needs to be an infrastructural change.”

Fintech 1.0 made banking usable. Fintech 2.0 must make it structurally better.

Gui continues:

“You’re not going to be able to scale everything if you’re not using the latest state-of-the-art technology. And we believe blockchain is that technology.”

This statement is important. It frames blockchain not as an ideological stance but as a technological progression. Just as cloud infrastructure replaced on-premise servers, blockchain can replace fragmented financial ledgers.

Seb, the host, summarized it from the outside:

“It’s like traditional fintech from 10 years ago, but with a new infrastructure… ripping out the foundation and rebuilding it on-chain.”

That framing captures Bleap’s positioning precisely.

Proving It Works for Real Users

Infrastructure ambition means little without real-world validation.

Seb referenced early traction during the conversation: around 20,000 users and over $30 million in transaction volume last year.

João’s response was characteristically grounded:

“When you’re building, it never feels like things are going well… there’s always another challenge.”

Still, he acknowledges an important milestone.

“We’ve made the first step of proving that the technology works… not just B2B, but for everyday retail users.”

One principle guides product decisions:

“We always ask ourselves: is my mom going to be able to use this product?”

That question keeps Bleap focused on mainstream usability rather than crypto-native complexity.

The backend may be advanced. The user experience must remain intuitive.

The Distribution Reality: Users Care About Outcomes

One of the most insightful parts of the discussion concerned user acquisition.

João was direct:

“You cannot communicate to the user that you are reinventing the backend. They don’t care.”

Consumers adopt products because of tangible benefits. Cashback, yield, simplicity, and trust matter. Ledger architecture does not.

This reality forces Bleap to focus on storytelling, community, and founder-led transparency. The team engages directly with users and positions the product as a lifestyle shift rather than a technical breakthrough.

Gui describes the marketing challenge clearly:

“People don’t like to think about finances… so we need to make them think less about finances while using a finance app.”

The ambition is not to be perceived as another challenger bank. It is to be perceived as a new model entirely.

Stablecoins and the Timing of Conviction

When Bleap raised its $2.2 million pre-seed, stablecoins were not central to mainstream fintech conversations.

“We were pitching banking 2.0 when stablecoins weren’t really a thing.”

Over the past 18 months, the narrative shifted. Stablecoins became a serious topic in venture and institutional circles.

João describes the seed raise dynamic as balanced:

“It’s 50/50. Narrative reduces the number of no’s before your first term sheet.”

Traction closes the deal. Narrative accelerates it.

The founders’ conviction preceded the trend. As Seb noted during the episode, this was not luck. It was preparation meeting market readiness.

The Next Chapter: Scaling to 10x

With new capital comes new expectations.

João outlines the next objective clearly:

“We need to 10x from where we are now.”

The focus is on two variables: retention and acquisition. Without retention, acquisition leaks. Without acquisition, retention plateaus.

The strategy is built on two levers. Distribution across organic channels, paid acquisition, and partnerships. And product stickiness through new verticals and viral loops.

“Customers getting more customers and more customers getting more customers.”

Compounding growth is the target, not linear expansion.

Culture: Challenge Every Assumption

Asked about what stayed with them from their time at Revolut, João highlighted a mindset rather than a tactic.

“An acceptable answer can never be ‘because X does it like that.’”

Everything is questioned. Every constraint is tested. Every vendor claim is negotiated.

This mentality mirrors their infrastructure thesis. If you accept legacy rails as immovable, innovation stops. If you challenge them, new financial models emerge.

The team remains intentionally small, currently nine people, with an unusually high hiring bar.

“We interview around 150 candidates for each person we hire.”

Execution density matters more than headcount.

A Different Financial Architecture

This conversation was not about launching features. It was about architectural direction.

Bleap’s founders see blockchain as the most modern accounting layer available today. They believe that if financial services are rebuilt on that layer, the user experience improves not because of design alone, but because the economics underneath change.

Higher cashback becomes sustainable. Savings mechanisms become globally competitive. Cross-border transfers become efficient. Market access becomes less restricted by geography.

The infrastructure fades into the background.

The outcomes come forward.

That is the future they are building toward.