In this exclusive interview, the Bitwala founders talk about their experiences and the new start. The interview provides insights into Bitwala's past, present and future and shows how the company emerged stronger from the challenges of the past.
When did you start?
Since the end of December 2023, we have been founder and managing director of the new Bitwala ltd. The Bitwala business model and brand have been around since 2014. After many ups and downs, the company filed for bankruptcy in 2022 and was liquidated. With the help of an investor, we took over the intellectual property, i.e. the trademark rights and the software. So we're not completely starting from scratch and of course there are some new features.
What type of service do you offer?
Bitwala offers a mobile app for Android and iOS that makes it possible to live on crypto. Our customers can use self-managed and escrow crypto wallets to securely and easily store, send and receive the cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Ethereum worldwide. They can buy and sell their Bitcoin and Ethereum 24/7 and in real time for euros for a fee of just 1%. We offer an account in euros with a virtual IBAN, from which you can deposit and withdraw euros from your own bank account. We support instant transfers for deposits, so the purchase of cryptocurrencies is completed in just a few seconds with just a few clicks. We already offer a virtual and soon physical VISA debit card that allows you to pay worldwide with Bitcoin and Ethereum as well as with euros, both online and offline, and withdraw cash from an ATM. The customer can change the currency with which they want to pay at any time in the app.
How did you come up with the idea for your service/product?
We are building on an existing business model, the service has been around since 2014. I was a co-founder of the old Bitwala and Dennis was the Head of Trading. The insolvency was the result of the combination of many different wrong decisions by management and adverse circumstances over many years. We've lost focus and burned up too many resources and money in the process. However, the product had reached market maturity and was actively used by more than 50,000 customers every month in 2022. We spoke to hundreds of these customers on the phone during processing and received clear feedback that they regret the insolvency and that they had little alternative. It was then clear to us that we would only regret it if we didn't try again. We have learned a few lessons from our mistakes and are focusing on sustainable financing.
How did you hear about Tokenize.it?
We had Tokenize.it on our radar for a while because we were looking for crowdfunding platforms, but implementing the concepts always failed due to legal issues. We have reviewed around a dozen platforms, all of which work with complex and expensive constructs, and in some cases would have required several months of setup time and expensive legal advice.
What prompted you to use this type of fundraising?
The Tokenize.it model was the first (and only) that our legal department commented on after a day of reviewing the documents with a brief “Yes, that works.” That made the decision easy for us. We like the opportunity to also give smaller investors interested in our company the opportunity to participate. This includes our users in particular. The effort normally associated with this and the necessary knowledge of the legal structures and - above all - the fact that investments are only possible above a certain amount scare off many. We believe that with the GmbH tokens have found a way to offer every interested retail investor a “small slice of investment” in as decentralized a form as possible. It is really very convenient to complete a token investment - as usual in Web3, the buyer only needs a wallet, a little ETH and USDC and can implement the investment with two or three clicks.
What was the reaction of your investors to the introduction of GmbH tokens?
Existing investors welcome this additional method of fundraising, which is currently not cap-table-heavy. We immediately received a few inquiries via LinkedIn and completed some tickets starting at around 4,000€. Investors from the crypto industry sometimes invest exclusively in tokens and many ask as a matter of course whether we also have a token.
