The Powered by Modulr series celebrates the innovative ways our customers use our infrastructure in their mission to build the Instant Economy.
Mode is a digital banking platform that aims to combine the benefits of traditional and digital finance for its users. Powered by Modulr’s payment infrastructure, Mode is able to offer its customers regulated fiat accounts and enable the instant transfer of fiat and crypto funds.
A brilliant idea born from a simple problem
Mode was founded in 2018 with a vision to transform the financial ecosystem. It launched its first product in 2019, a flexible crypto-backed lending solution for businesses.
For Janis Legler, Chief Product Officer at Mode, choosing to set the focus on digital assets was a natural decision. He’d been fascinated with Bitcoin for years and was particularly interested in the lofty problems that people were using blockchain technology to solve.
As Mode continued its development, Legler noticed some persistent problems in the wider cryptocurrency space. Many start-ups were overly ambitious and looking too far into the future. They were trying to use blockchain technology to solve problems that didn’t exist yet.
Meanwhile, mainstream consumers had no easy way to invest in cryptocurrencies – it was hard for people to know which companies to trust, which currencies to invest in, or how to use the complex crypto exchange systems that were prevalent on the market.
He realised there was a simple problem that no company in the crypto space had solved – providing users with easy access to Bitcoin through a simple, secure and regulated platform. So, Mode set out to change that.
Finding a payments partner that could deliver
Mode now has an ambitious vision, but in its early days it came across many challenges to find a traditional banking provider that could fulfil its payment needs. Many banks didn’t understand the specific requirements of the crypto industry. But the Mode team knew that finding a reliable payments partner was critical to their success.
“When you’re a crypto business, finding a strong and credible banking partner is one of the most important things to do – but it’s also one of the most challenging. Many banks don’t understand crypto, or don’t have the risk appetite. So we approached Modulr, explained the services we wanted to offer and they really listened to us,” says Janis Legler, Chief Product Officer at Mode.
The Mode team were attracted to Modulr because of its technology, its regulated status with the FCA as an E-Money Institution (EMI) and its existing partnerships with industry leading providers. At that point, Modulr didn’t have any crypto businesses as clients – but they agreed to discuss Mode’s vision and collaborated to find a way forward.
“We share many values with Modulr – a belief in compliance and regulation to protect customers’ funds while using cutting-edge technology to drive innovation. This made them a natural fit for us. By collaborating with Modulr, we have one of the strongest payment partners in the industry by our side,” says Legler.