Dolla

Money moves like a message. A New Zealand peer-to-peer payments app built on open banking. Pay, request and split right inside the chat.

Why does money between friends still route through card networks, when a message reaches them instantly and for free?

software · React + Akahu open banking · In Development
View the live demo

Dolla is a New Zealand peer-to-peer payments app. Pay friends and merchants instantly with bank connections through Akahu’s open banking. No card networks, no middlemen. Conversations are the core surface: payments, requests and splits travel inside chat threads as rich white chips, so sending money feels like sending a message.

The brand keeps it calm and Kiwi-direct. White surfaces dominate, with Dolla Blue as the single accent and a custom Beo Supreme typeface. Money coming in is green with a leading +; usernames read as $dollatag. Splits, requests and read receipts all live in the thread, the way mates actually settle up.

The whole product is built as a design system, then assembled into a full interactive prototype: onboarding through payment, chat with Pay and Request chips, profile cards, QR share and settings. The live demo is the standalone Dolla site: a marketing walkthrough plus the app you can tap through yourself.

Phone views
Mounts the standalone Dolla walkthrough.
Onboarding to first payment
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Four steps, sign-up through send.
Dolla
One pair carries the product. Dolla Blue on white.

Customer

Problem

How might we make sending money feel like sending a message?

Unfair solution

Staying Dolla

Purpose

Core idea

Conversations are the core surface: splits, requests and read receipts live in the thread, the way mates actually settle up. Built as a design system first, then assembled into a full interactive prototype from onboarding through payment.

Personality

Calm and Kiwi-direct. White surfaces, one blue accent, money in with a leading plus, usernames that read as $dollatag.

Ambition

Emotional positions

Key messages

Where this study comes from.

Further reading essays behind the related studies