Deblock: Instant Bitcoin, at Scale

Though it started only in 2024, Deblock is already a sizable neobank with ambition and momentum. This should come as no surprise, as their C-Suite contains former executives from Revolut and Ledger.

Their mission, as CEO Jean Meyer tells it, is simple: "We built Deblock because people shouldn't have to choose between the convenience of a bank and the sovereignty of crypto."

The banking side of the equation was largely in place. Deblock had already obtained the status of an electronic money institution (EMI) registered with the Banque de France and a MiCA license from the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF). Their users enjoy current accounts, IBANs, debit cards, and all the trappings of modern banking.

Combining a modern neobank with a full bitcoin functionality and self-custody has obvious appeal, as their 300,000 active users attest. But the simplicity of the mission conceals a daunting challenge in the execution.

Despite the regulatory hurdles of becoming a bank in Europe, the greater challenge for Deblock was on the bitcoin side. The bitcoin UX is one of the major impediments to its use as a medium of exchange. On-chain bitcoin transfers preserve self-custody, but they come with sometimes prohibitive costs and delays. Transfers directly over the Lightning Network are faster, but they come with a steeper learning curve, forcing users to consider the mechanics of invoices and the economics of payment channels. Custodial services can spare users complexity, but they come with incalculable counterparty risks and increasingly arduous regulatory barriers.

Deblock, however, was unwilling to compromise. About 50% of the assets their users hold are in bitcoin, so Deblock's bitcoin offering is existentially important to the enterprise. They insisted on providing their users with speed, economy, self-custody, and convenience simultaneously. It's a tall order, one bitcoin has been unable to deliver. Until now.

Deblock has chosen the Breez SDK to bring bitcoin transfers to their hundreds of thousands of users because it offers the self-custody, economy, speed, and convenience users want, the clever design and support developers need, and the scalability to grow as fast as they can add new users.

The Breez SDK is built by developers, for developers. It's why Deblock's lean team of one backend developer and two mobile developers were able to get the implementation ready for production within just a few weeks.

Mario Eguiluz, Deblock's CTO, has nothing but praise for the Breez SDK and the developer experience. According to him, the Breez team is both "super responsive" and "very helpful."

The Breez SDK was able to absorb Deblock's 300,000 new users with the flick of a switch. And Deblock is just one of Breez's many partners, with more joining every month. Thriving without the liquidity bottlenecks that plague some other Lightning offerings, the Breez SDK can grow as fast as any partner.

In fact, Deblock is already considering features that they haven't been able to offer until now. For example, they now have the ability to offer cash-back bonuses in the form of bitcoin for purchases made with the debit card, which had been impossible until recently due to fees and complexity.

The benefits Deblock is reaping with the Breez SDK are ready for a range of other services to enjoy, including remittance apps, payroll platforms, apps that already contain bitcoin on- and offramps as well as bitcoin-ready retail. With the Breez SDK, bitcoin can scale indefinitely within companies, across industries, and throughout economies, one app at a time.