Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow explains his troubled personal loan of $ 30 million, announces a new “super application”

The controversial co-founder of Bolt, Ryan Breslow, who returned as CEO earlier this monthspoke on Monday of the personal loan of $ 30 million he contracted from his company which sparked legal battles and contributed to his (temporary) eviction.

Breslow has also announced that Bolt will launch an “application everything that will integrate the funds in one click for everything, from crypto to” very soon “financial services.

The legal battle on the loan started in 2023, when Bolt Investor Activating continued Breslow. Activating Brreslow said that the startup with $ 30 million in debt By borrowing this amount and then in default, with funds from the company used to reimburse it.

The case was finally installedBolt agreeing to buy activating actions for $ 37 million last year.

Be expressed at Meetup Fintech Yesterday in Las Vegas, Breslow defended the loan, treating it as an act of loyalty to Bolt rather than the self-packing that the trial activating it alleged.

He said he had done the loan instead of selling his shares in a secondary transaction and that the loan had been approved unanimously by Bolt’s Board.

“It was done to be pro-bolt,” said Breslow. “I removed it instead of selling significant secondary. I wanted to show all our investors in which I keep all my tokens, I believe so much in the stock that I do not sell my actions. “”

Breslow said he thought he had a lot of time to repay the loan and waited for Bolt to the IPO to do it. He said that after leaving the role of CEO, the board of directors called in the loan, which he considered “a little attack”.

Breslow, the founding of Bolt, resigned from CEO in early 2022. In the years between this year and his return this year, he also faced allegations that He misleads investors and violated security laws by inflate the measurements During fundraising the last time, he managed the company.

Breslow admitted on Monday that he had made “a ton of mistakes” – but said they were not the ones he was accused of. He considered his main error as allowing people to join the Cap de Bolt table which he “did not know very well” (without specifying who).

Application ‘Super’ in progress

Now that he is back as CEO, he says that Bolt will soon launch a new “super application” which will incorporate the cash trade experience with a click of Bolt in a wide range of services.

“Instead of a cash register in one click, we will have a whole click: financial services, peer-to-peer, crypto, cards, financial products, all in an application,” he said.

Breslow compared Bolt to the British Fintech Revolut, which was estimated at $ 45 billion last yearAffirming that Bolt has 80 million “portfolios” compared to 45 million revoluts, although he admitted that Bolt has not yet “monetized our consumers”.

Indeed, the Arp of Bolt amounted to approximately $ 28 million with $ 7 million in raw profits at the end of March 2024, said the newcomer to the technological publication last year. It’s small compared to Revolut announced $ 2.2 billion in income and $ 545 million in profits (before taxes) for only 2023.

The big question that remains on Bolt is the state of its next fundraising. In August, the news broke out a collection of fundraising from $ 450 million. But he raised questions about his unusual use of $ 250 million in “marketing credits” and the lack of confirmation of an investor errorly identified Like his advance.

Some of Bolt’s investors, including Blackrock and Hedosophia, continued to block the Tour, Forbes reportedBut this was returned voluntarily by all parties, Bolt announcement Today.

Breslow noted during his speech that “all” legal affairs against him are “fully settled, rejected” but have not provided update on fundraising 450 million dollars.

He said, however, that he had been “humiliated” by his experience and found a new determination to run Bolt after his faith and himself – and his startup – were challenged.

“You know, I obviously make mistakes, but I have a very big chip on my shoulder,” he said. “I’m ready to take Bolt to new heights.”

Blackrock and Hedosophia did not respond to a request for comments.