Let's Play Crypto: Normalising Financial Speculation in Neobanking Apps

This paper examines how Revolut, a European neobank, uses game-like mechanics to introduce ordinary banking customers to speculative cryptocurrency products. Its central argument is that neobanking apps function as sites of "speculative financial socialisation": rather than pushing users directly toward investing, gamified lessons, quizzes, rankings and crypto rewards make initial participation in speculative finance feel educational, low-stakes and compatible with everyday banking. The authors frame this as analogous to the normalisation of gambling through socially legitimate activities such as bingo.

The study combines three sources of evidence: a modified walkthrough of Revolut's Crypto and Learn features, ten expert interviews with banking developers, designers and regulators, and eleven user interviews about engagement with cryptocurrency and advanced banking features. The walkthrough found more than forty learning modules, each pairing short animations and multiple-choice quizzes with cryptocurrency rewards that can be immediately converted into euros, sometimes advertised as "up to" a set amount and fluctuating in value after being awarded. Developers described these rewards as "seed" crypto meant to lower barriers to entry, while users often completed lessons primarily to collect rewards and frequently rejected any identity as a crypto investor, sometimes converting their earnings straight to cash.

The paper concludes that gamification in financial products extends beyond interface aesthetics into shaping how risk, volatility and responsibility are presented to users. Risks are framed as matters for individuals to manage, embedding responsibilisation within a reward-based learning journey. The findings suggest that such design lowers the threshold for entering speculative financial infrastructures without necessarily producing sustained trading, contributing to scholarship on platform governance, financialisation and the gam(bl)ification of financial services.