Vaquita
The game to achieve your savings goal through DeFi gamification
📍 Team Location: Bolivia
About the Product
Vaquita is a gamified savings app built natively on Stellar + Soroban. Users lock funds for a chosen period (7 days, 3 months, or 6 months) and earn higher APY the longer they commit. Early withdrawal triggers a penalty that gets redistributed to disciplined savers — rewarding commitment, not just participation.
Stellar is not decorative here. It is the only chain where this works as designed:
— Soroban Smart Contracts: Handle all deposit tracking, period logic, penalty calculations, and reward pool distribution on-chain. No centralized custody. Logic is auditable and trustless.
— Blend Capital (yield layer): Idle pool funds route to Blend Capital via a versioned adapter contract, generating real yield. Blend's Soroban-native architecture is why this works on Stellar and couldn't be replicated on Base or Solana without a worse user experience and higher fees.
— Anclap (fiat ramps via SEP-24): LATAM users deposit and withdraw in local currencies (ARS, MXN) without touching a CEX. A crypto-native fallback (direct USDC) is maintained for markets where Anclap is unavailable.
User flow: Connect wallet → pick savings period → deposit via Anclap or USDC → funds lock in Soroban contract → yield accrues via Blend → unlock on completion with bonus, or withdraw early with penalty → gamification layer (badges, streaks, leaderboard) updates in real time.
Problem & Solutions
Problem
60% of people in LATAM don't save. Traditional savings offer no incentive for commitment — a savings account in Argentina yields less than monthly inflation. There is no saving culture, no gamified hook, and no product designed to make a Gen Z user feel rewarded for financial discipline. Vaquita changes that.
Solution
Vaquita is a gamified savings app built natively on Stellar + Soroban. Users lock funds for a chosen period (7 days, 3 months, or 6 months) and earn higher APY the longer they commit. Early withdrawal triggers a penalty that gets redistributed to disciplined savers — rewarding commitment, not just participation.
Stellar is not decorative here. It is the only chain where this works as designed:
— Soroban Smart Contracts: Handle all deposit tracking, period logic, penalty calculations, and reward pool distribution on-chain. No centralized custody. Logic is auditable and trustless.
— Blend Capital (yield layer): Idle pool funds route to Blend Capital via a versioned adapter contract, generating real yield. Blend's Soroban-native architecture is why this works on Stellar and couldn't be replicated on Base or Solana without a worse user experience and higher fees.
— Anclap (fiat ramps via SEP-24): LATAM users deposit and withdraw in local currencies (ARS, MXN) without touching a CEX. A crypto-native fallback (direct USDC) is maintained for markets where Anclap is unavailable.
User flow: Connect wallet → pick savings period → deposit via Anclap or USDC → funds lock in Soroban contract → yield accrues via Blend → unlock on completion with bonus, or withdraw early with penalty → gamification layer (badges, streaks, leaderboard) updates in real time.
Customer Segments
Primary: Gen Z in LATAM (18–30), smartphone-native, dopamine-driven, already using apps like Duolingo and TikTok daily. They won't read a whitepaper but they will chase a badge and compete on a leaderboard.
Secondary: Remittance recipients in Argentina, Mexico, and Bolivia who receive funds in crypto and have no structured way to save them.