Unblock

Unblock builds the technical rails for payments that run over blockchains and stablecoins, while merchants and cardholders keep using ordinary currencies. The company has two business lines, a crypto bridge for merchant payments and card programs for consumers, and runs both in a PCI Level 1 environment for card data.

Atomo Sàrl, the Swiss company behind the brand, has a longer history in payments. The company was registered in Geneva as PagueloFacil (Suisse) Sàrl, took its current name in September 2021 and in December 2021 changed its purpose to financial services such as money transfers, remittances and the purchase and sale of assets for third parties. Customers in Europe, Asia and Africa contract with Atomo Sàrl, customers in the United States and Canada with Atomo Technologies LLC, and customers in Latin America with an Atomo company in El Salvador.

Unblock Bridge is a payment integration for merchants that bundles card payments, crypto payments and alternative payment methods behind a single API. One integration replaces the separate connections to several payment providers that a merchant would otherwise build, the idea behind payment orchestration. Merchants receive their money either in fiat currency or in stablecoins.

Unblock built the service for e-commerce platforms that want one payment setup and for businesses in high-risk industries that need a reliable processor. Global companies that need local payment methods in markets such as the European Union and Latin America are the third target group.

With the white label program, a company issues debit cards under its own brand, funded in fiat currency or in stablecoins. Unblock supplies the license and the processing, because Atomo Sàrl is a principal member of Mastercard International. The cards carry the Mastercard brand and work with Apple Pay and Google Pay.

The client manages cards, balances and transactions through an API or a client portal and can load funds for each card or in bulk. Typical uses are payroll for employees, payouts to gig economy workers, expense cards and loyalty or royalty payments. For a crypto platform, such a program lets customers spend a stablecoin balance at any merchant that accepts Mastercard.

The Unblock App is the consumer product, where users register with a phone number, verify their identity and top up a wallet by bank transfer or credit card. Users can send money to family abroad, request money from contacts and trade or convert more than 30 digital currencies. A user can also convert local money into stablecoins and change it back into fiat currency later.

The Unblock Card is a physical or digital Mastercard debit card that spends the app balance online, in shops and through Apple Pay or Google Pay. Cardholders withdraw cash at ATMs in the Mastercard network, and Unblock holds the crypto assets of app users in custody in its own wallet system.

In Switzerland, Atomo Sàrl is a member of VQF under number 100977 in the money business category. The VQF has been a self-regulatory organization recognized by FINMA under the Anti-Money Laundering Act since 1998 and supervises how its members prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. The company has its office in Geneva and presents its products as founded and regulated in Switzerland.

In the United States, Atomo Technologies LLC is registered with FinCEN as a money services business. Unblock processes card data at PCI Level 1, the highest compliance level of the card industry security standard PCI DSS.

Unblock crypto usually means Unblock, the Geneva payments company whose app and debit cards let people buy crypto assets and spend them next to ordinary currencies. Behind the brand stands Atomo Sàrl, and its products for businesses are Unblock Bridge for merchant payments and the white label card program.

Oscar Flores, founder and chief executive, founded the Central American payment gateway Paguelofacil.com before Unblock and has worked on blockchain projects since 2013. Jonathan Palacios, founder and chief operating officer, was director of business development at Visa International and became a managing officer of Atomo Sàrl in August 2026.

Unblock Bridge settles merchant payments in fiat currency or in the stablecoins USDC, issued by Circle, and USDT, issued by Tether. Unblock describes these settlements as real time and faster than settlement through traditional payment systems.

A company that wants its own card program fills in a partner application with its company data, the cardholders it plans to onboard and its KYC information. Unblock says a branded card can launch within months, or within weeks on its existing Unblock program, while legacy issuers take years.

Unblock runs its Latin American business from a regional headquarters in Panama, while the head office stays in Geneva. In Costa Rica, an Atomo company has been approved by the Superintendencia General de Entidades Financieras as an exchange and money transfer operator since 17 May 2022. In El Salvador, another Atomo company holds an approval for crypto payment processing from the financial supervisor and the central bank.