Yesterday, Monobank announced a major milestone — reaching 10 million clients. This makes it Ukraine's second-largest bank by card count. Only eight years old, Monobank operates fully online without physical branches. To mark the occasion, the app launched a 'Lemon Hunt' game, where users could find virtual lemons to win prizes: iPhones, monetary rewards, special card skins, and the grand prize — a chance to compete for a BMW or a Disneyland trip for children.
The campaign's rules caused confusion: announcements by co-founder Oleg Gorokhovskyi differed from those in the app. Excitement surpassed expectations — more than a million users participated simultaneously. As a result, Monobank's servers were overloaded, many clients could not log in or perform basic transactions. Gorokhovskyi reported a sevenfold increase in traffic and later offered extra iPhones as compensation for the inconvenience. Within several hours, services were restored.
The incident triggered discussion on social media, with calls for regulatory penalties and concerns over financial stability. However, experts note similar outages have happened at other Ukrainian banks, especially during large updates or promotions.
Analysts emphasize Monobank's innovative approach as a driving force in Ukrainian fintech, introducing new features that raise market competition. Still, maintaining customer access and stability is crucial — even a short outage can be critical for individuals and businesses.
The event highlighted the need for balance: while innovation is vital, regulators should step in only if systemic risks to client funds emerge. The Monobank case offers a lesson for the entire financial sector on coping with unexpected loads and improving future processes.
