Blockchain Startup Bloom Partners With TransUnion To Offer Credit Monitoring

The first version of the Bloom app, which the company claims has a combined download of 1 million on the Apple
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App Store and Google Play Store, has an identity monitoring feature that notifies users if their information has been leaked.

To achieve this, Bloom employs an identity monitoring tool that scans the internet, including the dark web, to see if user data lurks . Bloom then notifies users whose information has been leaked, providing them with steps they can take to fix the issue. 

“How our system works is that we allow the user to verify certain elements about their identities — their names, phone number, social handles and so on — and on an ongoing basis, we continuously scan for any leaks of their data,” said Bloom cofounder Jesse Leimgruber. “We connect with various sources to see maybe some information like your hotel check-in data was leaked in the Marriott breach or your financial data was leaked in the Equifax breach.”

The new free credit monitoring feature in Bloom 2, which is only available in the U.S., adds credit monitoring to the mix.

U.S.-based users will be able to opt-in to Bloom credit monitoring and check their traditional credit bureau data, including credit scores, current loans, credit cards and monthly payment.

Taking blockchain out of the marketing to gain traction

Bloom first launched its mobile app in 2018 but struggled to onboard users because they didn’t understand why they needed a blockchain-based ID. Having blockchain in the marketing message was only helpful in gaining the initial support of the blockchain development community. The startup had to remove blockchain from its core marketing message before it started gaining traction with mainstream users.

“We use the identity monitoring tool as a way to onboard users to create an ID and that is because if I told you that you need to set up a Bloom ID with no uses, you’ll probably say, ‘why do I need that? What do I need a blockchain ID for?’,” said Leimgruber. “Practically, speaking, about 90% of our mobile app users don’t really know much about blockchain. They just have these problems, like data leaks, that they want to solve without knowing don’t even know that blockchain is used behind the scene.”