Bitwala launches crypto banking services in Germany

German crypto banking startup Bitwala has officially announced the rolling out of its services in the country and has started on-boarding 40,000 pre-registered customers.

The launch follows the startup’s €4 million funding round backed by Earlybird and Coparion, who join the company’s existing investors including High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Digital Currency Group (DCG), and ALSTIN.

According to the official announcement:

“We now offer crypto-friendly bank accounts together with our partner solarisBank that are authorised and regulated by the BaFin and the European Central Bank (ECB).”

Users will now be able to manage both Bitcoin and Euro deposits in one place, Bitwala said, adding that accounts will come with a debit card and a built-in bitcoin wallet with integrated cryptocurrency trading. Importantly, Euro deposits up to €100,000 are protected by the German Deposit Guarantee Scheme (DGS).

“We were able to bring cryptocurrencies into a fully compliant banking setup regulated in Germany. This shows that cryptocurrencies can fit into regulatory frameworks which protect consumers and ultimately inspire trust,” Jan Goslicki, Bitwala’s chief compliance officer and co-founder, said (as quoted by CoinDesk).

Bitwala said that it plans to expand to other countries in the forthcoming months. In addition to the on-boarding of the pre-registered customers, it will start accepting new users as well.

“We built the new account putting our customers first. No longer do you have to wire your liquidity to separate exchange accounts with frail fund protection measures outside of Germany. No longer do you have to accept excessive fees for trading. Trading with Bitwala is fast and reliable and our pricing highly competitive”, Ben Jones, Bitwala’s Chief Technical Officer and co-founder, said.