Next generation banking tools for the blockchain economy

Project Information

Bitwala

Grant agreement ID: 854346

DOI

10.3030/854346

Project closed

EC signature date 31 January 2019

Start date 1 February 2019

End date 31 May 2019

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

BITWALA GMBH
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Bitwala (Next generation banking tools for the blockchain economy)

Reporting period: 2019-02-01 to 2019-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In December 2018 Bitwala launched a worldwide unique crypto banking platform. For the first time, a fully licensed bank account was merged with a virtual currency and offered customers a safe and regulated entry into the blockchain economy. Blockchain-based businesses see their innovations stifled by a sluggish traditional banking sector that is systematically discriminating against blockchain-based businesses, due to a lack of know-how regarding the technology and therefore have difficulties with risk assessments. Bitwala built a retail product and is expanding to a business banking solution capable of providing the necessary banking services to an underbanked sector with a huge potential for growth, acting as a catalysator for innovation.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Wich the Horizon 2020 Phase 1 grant Bitwala was able to perform a comprehensive study the current customer's demands, analysing the potential market size, develop and verify personas to efficiently segment the market, develop a feasible product development roadmap, addressing the most pressing issues from our customers and validate our intellectual property protection strategy.
While Bitcoin was launched over 10 years ago Bitwala is still the only operational banking provider merging traditional and digital assets in one regulated platform.
Bitwala was able to outperform on all the quantifiable KPIs and already fulfilling some planned for Phase 2. Instead of 500 end-to-end customers, Bitwala overachieved by acquiring over 12k of end-to-end users, instead of 50 business beta testers in Phase 2 Bitwala already enlisted over 80 businesses in Phase 1 and additionally received multiple signed letters of intent to use our B2B services after we deploy.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Overall we managed to prove the market demand for our current and future products. We managed to segment our market meaningfully and create valuable insights for future developments. Our product roadmap is technically feasible and is based on market research making it economically viable. We validated our IPR strategy and still offer a unique solution and true financial innovation. We managed to prove our new business model over the last 8 months and are looking forward to a continued joined effort in pushing the innovative power of Blockchain technology inside the European Union forward.