CHF 4.5 Mio in Hand, Bitwala Merges Conventional Banking with Cryptocurrencies

Despite decentralisation being a key point of interest for bitcoin, a slew of hacks and thefts have left a certain segment of the market hungry for regulations.

Bitwala, a German blockchain banking service, have raised about 4 million euros in funding in order to create a fully regulated blockchain bank account slated for launch in November—a multi-currency bank account that joins bitcoin and regular fiat currencies into one account.

The upcoming cryptocurrency wallet will incorporate both a more conventional German bank account—complete with SEPA transactions, management of recurring payments and a debit card—with a cryptocurrency wallet. Therefore, users would be abel to, more instataneously, liquidate their cryptocurrency assets.

With the new product offering, deposits in current accounts will be protected up to 100,000 Euros under the German deposit protection scheme and supervised by Germany’s banking supervisors BaFin and Bundesbank.

Bitwala already sees 30,000 early bird signups for their upcoming regulated accounts, which the company states will be combining features of everyday banking for both the more conventional, and the crypto world.

Venture capitalists Earlybird and coparion joined Bitwala as an investor for this project.

With the new investment, Bitwala and their banking partner will be executing on technical and regulatory setups to realise its launch that is coming soon. According to the press release, the funding round will be used for product development and growth, which may hint at a a more regional

Jörg von Minckwitz

“I’m very proud that with our new product we will close the gap between crypto and traditional banking and solve one of the biggest hurdles on the road to mainstream adoption,”

says Jörg von Minckwitz, President of Bitwala GmbH.

Christian Nagel

Christian Nagel, partner at Earlybird, comments:

“The background and experience of the team convinced us that Bitwala will allow everyone to engage with cryptocurrencies—seamlessly and in unprecedented simplicity, with all the comfort and security of their bank account.”

Bitwala has already dabbled in the nascent blockchain banking market. Until late 2017, Bitwala operated as a hub for worldwide money transfers using blockchain as a vehicle, though the service was suspended due to sudden license removal of their card issuing partner due to Visa’s new rules.

Featured image via bitwala