Latin America–focused stablecoin banking startup Kontigo confirmed it moved swiftly to close a security breach over the weekend, completing full reimbursements of $340,905 worth of stablecoins to 1,005 impacted users by Jan. 6.
The incident, which the company disclosed on Jan. 5, took a personal turn when co-founder and CEO Jesus A. Castillo revealed his own account was compromised, framing the event as a direct attack on the platform’s leadership as well as its customers.
In a public statement on X, Castillo said the company took responsibility for the incident, adding that it “knows” who the attackers are and warning they would face consequences.
“To the hackers: We already know who you are, you will not go unpunished,” Castillo wrote. “Kontigo represents an alternative of stability and financial progress for millions of people, and it will continue to be.”
Breach interrupts Kontigo’s rapid growth push
The security incident arrives during a period of growth for the startup. Just weeks earlier, on Dec. 22, Kontigo announced the close of a $20 million seed funding round led by FoundersX Ventures.
The capital, earmarked to build what Castillo termed “the bank of the future,” is intended to fuel product development and deepen the firm’s penetration in emerging markets.
Earlier in December, Castillo claimed the company had acquired a $23 million property in Silicon Valley to serve as its headquarters, alongside what he described as an aggressive goal to “scale from $30M to $100M in annual revenue in the next 60 days.”
Kontigo was founded less than a year ago and is backed by Y Combinator, the U.S. startup accelerator and venture firm that invests $500,000 in each early-stage company it supports, according to its website.
The company claims to have reached $30 million in annualized revenue, processed more than $1 billion in payment volume, and surpassed 1 million active users over the past 12 months, while operating with a team of seven, including six engineers and one designer.
However, this rapid growth has been shadowed by a separate “de-banking” dispute.
In December, a report by The Information highlighted banking access issues faced by Kontigo and another Y Combinator-backed stablecoin firm, BlindPay. The report stated that JPMorgan Chase froze accounts linked to the startups through an intermediary due to compliance concerns, including exposure to sanctioned jurisdictions and a rise in transaction disputes.
Castillo refuted the characterization, asserting that the intermediary, not JPMorgan directly, was at fault and that the “chargebacks narrative is fiction.”
© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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