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Bitwala

“Can a self-custodial crypto wallet replace the four-tool stack (wallet + exchange + bank + card) that keeps Bitcoin out of everyday spending?”

Founded2015
HQBerlin, Germany
FoundersJörg von Minckwitz, Jan Goslicki, Benjamin P. Jones
Total raised$1.6M (post-relaunch entity, per LinkedIn)
IndustryFintech / Crypto
The story

Founded 2015 as a Bitcoin-native payments and remittance service in Berlin, Bitwala evolved into Germany's early 'bank for the blockchain economy,' offering a current account with an embedded BTC wallet on top of solarisBank rails. Rebranded to Nuri in 2021 to broaden appeal, then collapsed into insolvency in 2022 after crypto-market and counterparty (Celsius) exposure. Returned to the Bitwala brand in late 2023 with a fundamentally different thesis: self-custodial MPC wallet with no seed phrase, keys held by the user, paired with a Visa card and IBAN — collapsing wallet/exchange/bank/card into one product where custody stays with the customer.

Last 12 months
—
Product timeline
2015
Founded in Berlin as blockchain-based payment service provider for international money transfers.· founding
2018
Launched crypto-friendly current account with built-in Bitcoin wallet, hosted by solarisBank.· banking
2021
Rebranded to Nuri, pivoting toward broader crypto-native neobank positioning.· pivot
2022
Nuri entered insolvency proceedings following Celsius exposure and market downturn.· insolvency
2023
Returned to the Bitwala brand after insolvency; relaunched with self-custodial MPC wallet architecture.· pivot
2024
Relaunched product: self-custodial Bitcoin wallet, Visa debit card, personal IBAN, crypto trading; Bitcoin-backed loans on waitlist.· banking
The stack
5 layers disclosed in Bitwala’s embedded-finance stack
Banking / BaaS
Solarisbank
Card issuing
in the full report
Card network
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
Crypto
in the full report
Accounting gap: none
6 more providers across 4 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.