Bipa - Brazilian Bitcoin Neobank
Role
Head of Marketing
Timeline
2025 - Present
Location
São Paulo, Brazil / Miami, FL
Overview
In 2024, I decided to leave OKX to focus on advising early-stage startups — something I had wanted to do for quite some time. I enjoy taking ideas from zero to one, getting things off the ground, and really testing myself when the stakes are real. Early-stage ventures are like extreme sports: they quickly reveal if you’ve got the chops to succeed when the odds aren’t in your favor.
The first venture I consulted for was a promising stealth-mode startup working on private asset tokenization (details are still confidential). While the company showed tremendous potential, the hurdles around compliance, infrastructure, and market readiness meant we were looking at a much longer timeline until launch than initially anticipated.
Because of delays with the product launch, I eventually took up the opportunity to lead marketing for Bipa — a Brazilian neobank backed by Ego Death Capital that allows customers to integrate Bitcoin and USD stablecoins into their everyday finances. As a long-time advocate for hyperbitcoinization, Bipa was an opportunity to combine my passion for Bitcoin with the type of fast-moving, iterative startup environment where I thrive.
Team Development
My first priority at Bipa was to build a high-performing marketing team through clear structure and support. Rather than diving straight into campaigns, I focused on creating an environment where the team could thrive. This approach eliminated the confusion and overlap that had been slowing down execution, giving everyone a well defined scope that they would be accountable for.
We defined clear responsibilities from the start: Isabela Tamiris was entrusted with brand design leadership and project management, ensuring a consistent visual identity and world-class marketing collateral; Caio Leta focused on Bitcoin research and high‑quality content creation, including our podcast, newsletter, and in‑depth reports; Seiiti Arata managed our influencer marketing and UGC campaigns; and Maria Fernanda Luz drove lifecycle marketing with a focus on turning sign‑ups into first‑time trades.
In addition to clarifying roles and responsibilities, I had the team perform self-assessments that highlighted gaps in our collective skill set. As a result, we began the search for a growth marketer who could handle programmatic advertising and help build out more sophisticated channel attribution. This led to an additional hire: João Pedro Calixto.
Project-Based Workflows
The marketing team was operating in reactive mode when I arrived, responding to ad-hoc requests without prioritization. Working closely with Isabela, I sought to implement a culture of structured execution.
Now, projects must meet a “Definition of Ready” before entering the team’s workflow: crystal-clear objective statements that define success, contextual background explaining business rationale, realistic project timelines with key milestones, measurable success metrics, resource requirements, and explicit priority classification using a P0/P1/P2 hierarchy.
Moreover, we implemented "Definition of Done" criteria to ensure every project meets our standards, supported by project trackers that keep everyone aligned with weekly updates. Projects are only considered “Done” once we’ve concluded all related tasks, compiled results, and hosted a retrospective with the team to assess what went well and what could be improved for future initiatives.
Activation and Retention Challenges
Bipa had a serious conversion problem: fewer than 40% of KYC‑verified customers were going on to make their first Bitcoin purchase through the app. This meant we were bleeding potential revenue at the most crucial point in the customer journey.
Digging deeper, we uncovered a telling pattern in our customer base. Out of 250,000+ customers, a small segment was driving most of our revenue. This imbalance highlighted a fundamental targeting and retention problem that made our revenue dangerously dependent on Bitcoin volatility.
Strategic Refocus and Housekeeping
Throughout the first half of 2025, we implemented measures that addressed both immediate conversion issues and long-term strategic positioning.
First, I directed our team to laser-focus on email and push notification campaigns, specifically building trigger-based automations that would guide users from signup through their first deposit and trade. As a result, we improved sign up to first trade conversion by over 30%
I audited our marketing spend and uncovered considerable inefficiencies. As a result, we cut marketing costs by 70% without losing operational capacity or revenue by making some hard but necessary calls: ending expensive influencer partnerships that delivered poor results, pausing programmatic campaigns with projected payback periods stretching beyond 12 months, and dropping a PR agency that was burning budget while delivering minimal media coverage.
The real breakthrough came from following the money. Instead of casting a wide net hoping to catch good customers, we adjusted our targeting strategy to focus more on high-net-worth individuals and companies — the customer segments our data showed were actually driving revenue. This insight led to stronger marketing for our white-glove offering Bipa Premium and for Bipa Business Accounts.
Finally, we tackled the attribution challenges that were preventing us from understanding which channels brought us quality customers. By implementing a robust setup with AppsFlyer, we gained visibility into where our best customers were coming from, enabling smarter and more assertive budget allocation.
Brand Identity Revamp
One of my proudest accomplishments was modernizing Bipa's brand to better reflect our mission of making Bitcoin and USDT practical currencies for everyday use.
The visual refresh started with our existing logo's gradients, which we used as the foundation for our new design system. Our messaging, in turn, centered around positioning Bipa as a neobank that gives Bitcoin real-world utility: "Conheça o melhor jeito de comprar, vender e viver com Bitcoin" (Discover the best way to buy, sell, and live on Bitcoin). One of our key objectives was to differentiate the brand from traditional crypto exchanges – Bipa is more of a personal finance app than a trading platform.
We implemented the new brand identity across all touchpoints, starting with a complete website make over and updated app store listings.
We also revamped Bipa’s social media presence. Content creation was previously ad-hoc, resulting in inconsistent messaging and irregular posting schedules.
To streamline our content creation and posting cadences, we implemented an editorial strategy based on four themes: Bitcoin Education, Product Demos, Brand Moments, and Market News. Using VistaSocial as our content management platform, we established bi-weekly planning cycles that allowed the team to schedule weeks of content in advance across Instagram, X, LinkedIn, and TikTok. We also brought on a freelance designer to scale content production while maintaining brand standards.
Finally, we upgraded BipaCast, our podcast series, with a professional studio featuring improved production quality and consistent branding. This investment significantly enhanced our ability to establish thought leadership in the Bitcoin space and attract high-profile guests, including forward-thinking politicians like Pedro Guerra.
User Generated Content (UGC)
Early on, I recognized that traditional advertising wouldn't cut through the noise or build the credibility needed to shift consumer perceptions about Bitcoin's role as a currency for everyday use. With this in mind, we partnered with KOLs in Brazil's Bitcoin community to showcase how Bitcoin can be used on a daily basis.
This sparked a multi-month campaign titled "Eu uso Bitcoin" (I use Bitcoin) led by Seiiti Arata, which significantly boosted our engagement across Instagram and X, with dozens of comments on each bite-sized reel. The campaign worked well because instead of telling people Bitcoin could be useful someday, we highlighted real use cases right now. The campaign featured real people using Bitcoin to buy coffee, pay bills, and send money to friends — all through Bipa.
Bitcoin-Backed Credit Card
An exciting project I got the chance to lead at Bipa was the launch of our Bitcoin-backed credit card to over 70,000 customers on our waitlist, featuring 1% Bitcoin back on all transactions and the ability to use Bitcoin and USDT as collateral to increase credit limits. The product allows customers to spend in Brazilian Reais while maintaining exposure to BTC and US Dollars.
The biggest challenge was that a collateralized Bitcoin credit card isn't exactly an intuitive product for everyone. This became evident during the card’s beta phase when customers created cards but failed to add Bitcoin as collateral, undermining the product's primary value proposition.
As a measure to incentivize customers to add Bitcoin as collateral, we revamped lifecycle marketing comms, with a lot more hand-holding and explanations about the benefits of using credit while maximizing Bitcoin exposure. More specifically, we sought to highlight how Bitcoin tends to appreciate while inflation eats away at the Brazilian Real’s purchasing power. As a result, we improved the conversion rate from card activations to adding collateral by over 30%.
Reflections and Thoughts on Bitcoin Adoption
I'm incredibly proud of driving Bitcoin adoption in Brazil through Bipa. We're proof that companies can champion Bitcoin in emerging markets, showing that technology offers a superior alternative to systematic currency depreciation. As Bitcoin succeeds, Bipa is positioned to succeed with it.
Think about it: Bitcoin has exploded into a $2 trillion asset class. That puts it ahead of Silver, Tesla, Meta, the SPY ETF, and the world's three biggest banks combined. Not bad for "magic internet money”.
As regulatory clarity emerges, Bitcoin will gain broad recognition as a legitimate savings instrument — similar to index funds or traditional fixed income products. In emerging markets especially, Bitcoin and stablecoins have the potential to replace weak fiat currencies and become preferred stores of value.
Bitcoin's is a supranational, politically agnostic, decentralized and electronically transferable bearer asset with inelastic supply. It's logical that individuals, institutions, companies, and even governments will eventually allocate portions of their capital to Bitcoin.
Smart money is already there.