On Aug. 29, German blockchain-based banking startup Bitwala announced the launch of its smartphone app for Bitcoin banking on iOS and Android. Customers in over 30 European countries can now open a German bank account with integrated Bitcoin wallet and trading.
Open an account directly from within the app in minutes
The onboarding process for new customers has been directly integrated into the app. It uses a video identification feature, with which residents throughout the European Economic Area can verify and open an account within minutes. Bitwala CTO Benjamin James explains:
“Once you have an account, you can seamlessly integrate your daily banking activities — whether in Bitcoin or Euro — into your everyday life.”
The account comes with a free debit Mastercard, and euro deposits up to €100,000 ($110,100) are covered by the German deposit guarantee scheme.
Integrated Bitcoin wallet and trading
The integrated Bitcoin wallet works just like conventional online banking. In this respect, it is different from an account at a cryptocurrency exchange as it can be used to manage daily finances.
Users can buy and sell Bitcoin directly from their bank account. The wallet has P2P functionality to transfer Bitcoin to friends and family, and transactions can be authorized using biometrics. Private keys are held by the customer at all times.
Bitwala CFO, Christoph Iwaniez, spoke about account security:
“With Bitwala your bitcoin are booked directly on the Blockchain via a multi-signature wallet. This is another way of saying that hacking Bitwala is as useless as breaking the Blockchain itself and that our customers are fully in control of their Bitcoin wallets at all times.”
As Cointelegraph reported last month, Bitwala raised €13 million ($14.3 million) in a recent funding round.