Bitwala
About Bitwala
Contact Bitwala (formerly Nuri): Phone, Email, Customer Service — Complete Guide 2026 Looking to contact Bitwala by phone, email, or chat? Formerly known as Nuri, this German neobank specializing in cryptocurrencies has had a turbulent history before being reborn under its original brand. In this comprehensive guide, we detail all the practical information for reaching customer service, as well as the offerings, pricing, security features, and much more. Whether you want to find the Bitwala phone number , understand Bitwala pricing , or simply learn how to open an account, you will find all the answers here. It is important to note upfront that Bitwala does not offer a traditional phone number for customer service. All contact requests go through the mobile app and the online help center. We will explain in detail the different ways to reach an advisor throughout this article.
1. Background and history of Bitwala The story of Bitwala is one of the most fascinating in the European fintech landscape. Founded in October 2015 in Berlin by Jörg von Minckwitz, Jan Goslicki, and Benjamin P. Jones, the company began as a blockchain-based payment services provider. In its early days, Bitwala enabled SEPA and SWIFT transfers by converting bitcoins or altcoins into more than twenty fiat currencies, reaching bank accounts in over two hundred countries worldwide. This pioneering approach addressed a real need: facilitating international money transfers by bypassing traditional banking channels that were often expensive and slow. For many users, particularly those sending remittances to developing countries, Bitwala represented a practical alternative to traditional transfer services like Western Union or MoneyGram, with considerably reduced fees. In January 2018, Bitwala faced its first major challenge when WaveCrest Holdings Ltd, its Gibraltar-based prepaid card provider, had its Visa license revoked by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission for compliance failures. This event affected several crypto card issuers, including CryptoPay, TenX, and Wirex. For Bitwala, it was a clear signal that the business model needed rethinking. In August 2018, Bitwala joined the European Fintech Alliance, marking its commitment to building a regulated European fintech ecosystem. In September 2018, the company raised four million euros from Earlybird and Coparion, two prominent venture capital firms. The following month, a strategic partnership with solarisBank, the Berlin-based banking-as-a-service platform, was announced. In November 2018, Bitwala relaunched with what it described as the first regulated blockchain banking solution in Europe, combining Bitcoin and euro deposits in a single German bank account hosted by solarisBank. This innovation earned it significant international media coverage and attracted investor attention. In July 2019, the company closed a Series A funding round of thirteen million euros led by Sony Financial Ventures and NKB Group, with participation from Earlybird and Coparion. This funding enabled Bitwala to accelerate its European expansion and enrich its product offerings. By early 2021, Bitwala had over 200,000 clients across 32 European countries and was described as the third-largest neobank in Germany. Growth was impressive, but the leadership team felt a repositioning was necessary to reach a broader audience beyond cryptocurrency enthusiasts alone. In May 2021, Bitwala rebranded as Nuri, adopting a generalist neobank positioning with a strong crypto component. The company employed approximately 250 people and was pursuing its own banking license. The name change was accompanied by an app overhaul and an ambitious marketing strategy targeting European millennials interested in investing. Unfortunately, the 2022 crypto bear market hit Nuri hard. The successive collapse of Terra/Luna, the bankruptcy of Celsius Network — with which Nuri had a partnership for its crypto savings product — and the broader crisis of confidence in the crypto ecosystem created a toxic combination. On August 9, 2022, Nuri filed for insolvency with the Berlin court, citing liquidity difficulties. The company noted, however, that client funds deposited with solarisBank were not affected by the insolvency proceedings. Operations ceased in October 2022, and Nuri's client base was transferred to Vivid Money, another Germany-based neobank. This was one of the first major fintech crypto insolvencies in Germany, affecting approximately 500,000 clients. But the story doesn't end there. In November 2023, the company was reborn under its original name, Bitwala, in partnership with Striga, an Estonian white-label banking and crypto services provider, a subsidiary of