Morkis

Inspiration

We realized that every banking app on the market is too polite. They send friendly nudges while you’re in the middle of making a purchase you will regret. We wanted to close the Intention-Action Gap, the distance between who you say you are and who you actually are at 3 in the morning shopping on Temu. We took Daniel Kahneman’s Nobel-winning research on loss aversion and turned it into a financial contract.

What it does

Morkis is the honesty monster for your bank account.

You set a goal (e.g., "No Starbucks this week") and Stake a real financial penalty (e.g., €10) in a secure Stripe vault.
We connect to your bank account. Morkis does not listen to excuses, he only listens to transaction data.
If you keep your word, you keep your cash and get Integrity Points which you can spend on skins or for competing with your friends. If you break your promise, Morkis 'bites" the stake and sends it directly to a charity you hate or your ex!

How we built it

We built the core logic using a Node.js/Python backend to handle the LLM logic.

Plaid AI: For real-time transaction monitoring and merchant category filtering. Stripe API: To handle the pre-authorized "Stake" and the automated "Bite" logic. ElevenLabs: For text-to-speach to make Morkis talk in a voice that will roast you in a very peculiar way!

Challenges we ran into

Trying to implement the real data rather that mock data. Since it is the information from a bank, the authorisation part was not straightforward. We also spent a crazy amount of time debating which nemesis charities would be the most painful for the average user.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Gizem and Adrian are most proud about implementing and integrating the APIs which actually complement each other. Yevi is most proud that we created a fintech app that has personality. Morkis is an accountability partner that users actually can feel a fear-based respect for.

What we learned

We learned that passive apps do not change aggressive habits. Most people do not need more financial education. They need a cost of failure. We also learned that Plaid AI is an incredibly powerful tool for behavioral change when you start using it for consequences.

What's next for Morkis

Group accountability where if one friend fails, everyone's stake is bitten.
Moving beyond credit scores to a metric that proves you actually do what you say you will do. We call it Integrity Score.
Working with gyms and health brands to reward high-integrity users instead of just punishing failure.