Stage 2: Drive massive adoption with the first 20,000 physical debit cards for LatAm people led by kusama (new 20,000 holders over 1 year)

Objective

Bloque aims to make Kusama the leading network for debit card issuance worldwide, starting in LatAm. Our success metric result for this project is $10M in monthly volume on Asset Hub. We have the network, the team, the metrics—and your trust.

We are a trusted team

Our team we have shipped before the #499 30% faster with 20% more total payment volume in asset hub (+$528K USD vs $440K USD )

Summary proposal.

Bloque has launched an open developer platform to issue layer 1 VISA debit cards on Kusama Asset Hub.

The requested funding allows us to build on the technical foundation to issue and distribute 20,000 physical debit cards over 1 year to 20,000 new and KYC’d Kusama account holders. These new cards have its own account in Asset-hub and can spend KSM, dUSD and native tokens at any point of sale. instantly.

These new users will be onboarded through trusted partners including: fintech platforms, construction companies, e-commerce merchants and street sellers throughout LatAm.

We project an average spend per card of $149 - $500 per month creating a monthly volume of $3.6M to $10m, we already moved $440K $528K USD on-chain in AH. (Why 500 USD, check the FAQ below)

This will generate 0.2% fees on every transaction for Kusama - $7.2K - $20k per month.

For developers you can issue debit cards to your users and earn up to 1.2% on every purchase they make. It’s a cost-effective, compliant, and growth aligned way to boost your revenue while delivering real value to your community.

Why Kusama?

• Kusama its a production ready blockchain underuse that is 8.22x cheaper:

Pure Proxy: Kusama(0.0068 KSM) ~= 0.0941 USD vs Polkadot(0.2 DOT) > ~0.7 USD

• Kusama receives faster upgrades, we benefit sooner from performance, security, scalability and Governance.
• We made the first Kusama/Polkadot Meetup in LatAm in my previous startup Valiu, in 2020, i'm a true believer.

KYC/KYB Not required for DAOS

We’re building a legal framework that lets communities and individuals use debit cards without exposing personal identity. Our KYT‑driven compliance program reduces AML risks and allows DAOs and their members to access the traditional financial system while preserving privacy.

ZK Approach

We aim to enable ZK proofs in a later phase. Our manufacturer supports loading Java applets onto the card, enabling on‑card cryptography. We’re evaluating how to leverage this for privacy‑preserving verification, once we got confirmation we can share a plan with the community.

Demo

AGG presentation

Link to slides

TL; DR;

Our team:

• Founding team from YCombinator.
• $2.5m USD Total Payment Volume to date.
• +$400k USD on moved on Kusama AH currently.
• Delivered the #499 30% faster.

Proposal:

• Expected $3.6 - $10m USD monthly volume in AH through 20,000 holders spending +$149-$500 per month.
• Our north-star success metric is $10M USD in monthly volume.
• 0.2% Transaction fees to Kusama (either burned or $7.2-$20k USD per month to treasury)
• buy pressure with 0.1% purchase per debit card transaction in KSM for fees.
• Developers can earn up to 1.2% of transaction fees by launching their own branded cards
• Opportunity for branding on the card, which lead awareness of kusama.
• Costs are for purchasing debit cards and for developer time.
• Risk shared by Bloque team who are covering their own overhead (~$134K USD paid by Bloque, $179K paid by Kusama).

Costs:

Physical Card Costs (107,707 USD) paid by Kusama : 60.1% of total Amount.

• Price per card:3.04 USD x 20,000 = +60,800 USD (You can check it in our contract here)
  - Embossing fee:+4,500 USD
• Colombian VAT: 19% = 0.19 * (60,800 USD + 4,500 USD) = +12,407 USD
• Additional Visa Collateral: +30K USD extra collateral for Visa processing transactions ahead of settlement. (Global)

Engineering Time Costs (72,000 USD) paid by Kusama: 39.9% Total Amount.

• Team Composition: The project will employ 2 full-time mid engineers, to improve concurrency, security and UX/UI for the debit card platform.
• Monthly Cost: Each member incurs a cost of 3K USD per month.
• Project Duration: The team will work full-time for a period of 12 months.
• Multiplying the monthly cost by the number of team members and the duration (3K USD x 2 members x 12 months).

Operative team (Compliance, head finance, Infrastructure) paid by Bloque: ~134,760 USD

• Team composition: Head of Sales, Compliance Officer & Head of Financial operations + devops and Infrastructure.
• Monthly costs: 11.230,51 USD
• Duration: 12 Months

Resources

• Full proposal document.
• API docs: Authentication + Holder Creation, Transactional Ledger, Card issuance.

FAQ

Which regions are supported? Mainly LatAm starting in Colombia & Mexico with worldwide availability via Passport.

How will this API handle key material since the wallets are non-custodial?
We use a combination of proxy accounts with defined spending limits. In addition, the “debit callback” endpoint with 3D Secure prompts users to authorize (i.e., sign) transactions—effectively meaning the user “sells” crypto to us so that we can complete the payment on their behalf. Our security model is based on Shamir’s Secret Sharing: at setup, the holder sends us one part of the secret while keeping the other part secure across multiple devices. When a transaction is authorized, the two parts are combined to complete the transaction.

How are redemptions processed?
Today’s redemption channels include Brale Rails (conversion across 10+ chains to USDT/USDC), a DEX liquidity pool for KSM/dUSD, and direct debit card transactions.

Do day-to-day COP inflation swings pose a risk?
Yes, they can. To mitigate this risk, we maintain only small COP buffers in the bank while holding most of our treasury in USD.

How will the system mitigate potential volatility given that settlement can take several days?
Limiting USD buffer sales to twice daily (e.g., morning and afternoon) may expose us to unexpected volatility. Ideally, we offload USD as frequently as market conditions allow. When that isn’t feasible, we rely on compensation accounts, short-term COP buffer loans, SWIFT transfers, and OTC channels to quickly convert USD into COP liquidity.

How would a chargeback or clawback be handled?
For same-day chargebacks—such as paying $5 with KSM for an Uber ride and then canceling—the system applies an adjustment credit by deducting $5 from the USD buffer, converting it to KSM, and crediting your account. For delayed clawbacks—like purchasing a $20 card with KSM on Temu but receiving a faulty product—we detect the issue via Visa’s invoices and balance sheets. In the next payment cycle, we net the amounts between our accounts; for instance, if we owe Visa $100 but receive $20, we pay only $80, converting the extra $20 into KSM and crediting your account.

Why 20,000 cards instead of 10,000 or 5,000?
Pomelo minimum order is 10K physical cards, For the range of 10K or 20K, our operative costs are the same, the unit costs operative cost per card is lower for 20K cards, so its optimal for RoI.

For 20K Cards = (134,760 + 72,000)/20,000 cards = ~$10 USD.
For 10K Cards = (134,760 + 72,000)/10,000 card = ~$20 USD.

Why $149 - $500 USD per card?
Please check our volumes projection