After a stint in Canada, he returned to Provence to create a Bitcoin savings fintech

The Bitstack application is about to launch

After going to college and starting his career in Canada, Alexandre Roubaud decided in early 2021 to return to France with a project that had been taking shape for more than two years: develop a mobile savings app denominated in bitcoin. The concept of the Bitstack fintech, which is based in Meyreuil, rounds up purchases made with bank cards to the nearest euro so the user can build up savings. With support from Provence Promotion, M Accelerator and the Belle de Mai incubator, Alexandre Roubaud and his partner Kabir Sethi are preparing to launch the application in France. A virtual asset service provider (VASP) registered with the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), Bitstack plans to tackle the European market next.

Co-founders Alexandre Roubaud and Kabir Sethi have big goals for their bitcoin savings account project. As firm believers in the future of this virtual currency, they have positioned their solution as a new financial alternative and store of value that can be converted back into traditional fiat currency at any time. "With a quantity capped at 21 million units, bitcoin allows millions of people to obtain an absolute guarantee that the currency will not be devalued, which ensures their savings are protected," says Alexandre Roubaud, CEO and co-founder of Bitstack.

After they met at McGill University in Montreal, they each went down their own career paths. Alexandre chose fintechs, working on product development at Moka, a leading savings and investment application in Canada, while Kabir joined an innovative IT development company where he applied his skills to digital project implementation. They were both passionate about the cryptocurrency created in 2009, and they had already worked together on bitcoin and on several projects backed by the university's incubator, X-1, and the student Blockchain club at McGill.

Back in France, Alexandre invited Kabir to join forces to create Bitstack. The fintech was born in April 2021 at the innovative companies incubator in Meyreuil, assisted by Provence Promotion, which showed them several venues in the region where they might set up their company as part of its Home Sweet Home support program. "The role of Provence Promotion is to give project developers as many location options as possible and to introduce them to potential partners to accelerate their growth," explains Laetitia Biciacci, Operational Manager - Prospecting, who kept tabs on the project after making a connection via thecamp.

Bitstack allows you to save change from transactions in bitcoin by rounding up your purchases to the nearest euro. After linking the mobile app to their bank account, users customize their savings rules with automatic rounding or recurring purchases."Saving is painless, fun and automated and the client can manage it directly in a currency that is the best-performing asset of the last 10 years," observes Alexandre Roubaud.

Obstacles eliminated thanks to regulations

As a native of Aix-en-Provence, Alexandre Roubaud naturally sought to create his company in Provence, but the choice to set up his fintech in the south of France was also motivated by clarified regulations and the welcoming ecosystem he found there. After receiving support from M Accelerator, Bitstack is now getting a boost from the Belle de Mai incubator, which has granted it a repayable advance.

"The initial legal framework was adopted in April 2019, which classified cryptocurrencies as digital assets and as a means of exchange that can be transferred, stored and traded electronically. In 2020, the obligation to register with the AMF made the market more transparent and more open," explains Alexandre Roubaud, who advocates for the professionalization of players in the cryptocurrency sector.

In accordance with the requirement laid out in France's Monetary and Financial Code, Bitstack completed its registration with the AMF in November 2021. Today, more than 2,000 people have pre-registered to test the application. The launch is scheduled for March at the latest and the app will be available to everyone on app downloading platforms starting in the second quarter of 2022.