Company Name: Relai
Founders: Julian Liniger and Adem Bilican
Date Founded: July 2020
Location of Headquarters: Zurich, Switzerland
Amount of Bitcoin Held in Treasury: One-third of Relai’s treasury
Number of Employees: 30
Website: https://relai.app/
Public or Private? Private
Julian Liniger is committed to increasing Bitcoin access among Europeans, even as regulatory challenges mount for Bitcoin enterprises like Relai, the company he co-founded.
Liniger, a polished Swiss entrepreneur featured in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in 2022, asserts that significant work remains to be done to bring Bitcoin to the European population, despite emerging regulations such as Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) that complicate service delivery to EU and UK citizens.
“We aim to make Bitcoin more approachable, user-friendly, and simpler to acquire for the average person,” Liniger explained to Bitcoin Magazine.
“Our primary focus is new users — the vast majority who have not yet experienced the convenience of Bitcoin or lack the necessary education. Currently, only about 8% to 10% of Europeans possess Bitcoin, meaning that 90% still do not,” he elaborated.
To engage this 90%, Liniger and the Relai team have secured requisite licenses and complied with specific regulatory requirements, including implementing Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols for app users. While ensuring compliance is demanding, Liniger, balancing a libertarian outlook with pragmatism, views it as a necessary commitment.
“My objective is to create the best possible company and onboard as many users to Bitcoin as we can in the most authentic Bitcoin way, which is genuinely self-custodial and strictly Bitcoin-based, all while operating within legal boundaries,” Liniger stated.
“Thus, we follow these laws, regardless of my personal sentiments. As a business leader, such choices are essential,” he continued.
Wise insights from someone well-versed in navigating challenging paths.
The Journey to Relai
Liniger first encountered Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in 2015, rapidly immersing himself in the expansive world of crypto.
In his early twenties, he witnessed Bitcoin’s remarkable price surge from $1,000 to $20,000 and closely experienced the Ethereum ICO boom during a study abroad in San Francisco in 2017, then a vibrant hub for crypto developers, while working toward his MBA.
After returning to Switzerland in 2018, he opted against a lucrative consulting role in traditional finance, choosing instead to establish Bravis, a crypto consulting venture. In this capacity, he assisted banks in preparing to integrate Bitcoin services.
“We [helped them] strategically position themselves in this new landscape and conceptualize products, such as initiating Bitcoin custody and trading services, which were unimaginable at the time,” said Liniger. “Now, many Swiss banks have adopted these offerings.”
By 2019, Liniger’s entrepreneurial ambition intensified. He aspired to establish something larger than a consultancy. This newfound drive coincided with his shift toward a Bitcoin-only investment philosophy and the realization that no existing app in the Swiss or broader European market enabled users to buy, hold, and utilize Bitcoin non-custodially—capabilities that Relai provides.
That same year, Liniger and soon-to-be co-founder Adem Bilican participated in a hackathon and reached the finals with their concept for Relai. By 2020, they had developed a prototype and secured funding from two angel investors. By the summer of that year, the Relai app was launched with the goal of initially offering Bitcoin access and subsequently other crypto assets.
However, the Bitcoin community reacted negatively to this idea.
Bitcoin Exclusive
Liniger recalled unveiling Relai’s promotional tagline “easy crypto investing” and the immediate adverse reaction from Bitcoin enthusiasts.
“They insisted, ‘Why bother with crypto? Just focus solely on Bitcoin and enhance its quality,’” Liniger recounted, noting that users prompted him and his partner to simplify the app’s usability and incorporate emerging Bitcoin technologies like Lightning—both of which Relai has achieved.
Initially envisioning Relai as a Bitcoin-first crypto application, Liniger ultimately decided to develop it as a Bitcoin-exclusive platform.
“I thought, it wouldn’t hurt to include a few other cryptocurrencies,” Liniger reminisced.
“However, I soon realized it would be detrimental. Other cryptocurrencies do not hold the same long-term utility if your goal is to create a savings platform. Bitcoin serves as a savings technology; it’s essentially digital gold,” he stated, pointing out that no other crypto assets genuinely represent a store of value.
Liniger also noted the emergence of Bitcoin-exclusive venture capital firms and companies in 2020, which inspired him to position Relai within this growing trend.
“We had River in the US, Bull Bitcoin in Canada, and we envisioned taking the lead in this sector in Europe,” declared Liniger.
Building a European User Community
Based in Switzerland, Liniger and the Relai team benefited from relatively lenient regulations compared to the European Union. However, Liniger was eager to extend their reach beyond Swiss citizens for two key reasons.
Firstly, the Bitcoin ownership rate among Swiss citizens is approximately 20%, as opposed to around 10% among European citizens from other nations. This results in a smaller market for newcomers to Bitcoin in Switzerland than in the EU and UK.
Secondly, while Switzerland has a population of about 8.7 million, the combined population of the EU and UK exceeds 500 million.
Over the past four years, Relai has amassed 120,000 users across Europe, with Liniger noting that growth has been accelerating, despite ongoing regulatory challenges.
“Currently, we are restricted from actively marketing to EU users due to regulatory constraints,” explained Liniger. “We can implement marketing strategies in Switzerland, but not across all EU nations.”
Even without direct marketing efforts, Relai continues to expand its user base, particularly in Germany, Italy, and France.
The number of users in these countries is expected to rise significantly as Relai works towards obtaining licensing in France, which will enable them to advertise to EU customers.
Once this occurs, Liniger anticipates that a majority of Bitcoin purchases in the EU and UK will be facilitated by Relai.
The Price of Compliance
While Liniger remains notably composed when discussing overcoming regulatory challenges, it is hard not to acknowledge the potential frustrations that have accompanied this journey for him and his team.
He shared that regulatory standards have become increasingly stringent not only for startups like Relai but also for established financial institutions.
“I’ve heard accounts from our CFO, who previously worked at ING, a major bank, four to five years back,” Liniger noted. “He was part of a risk management compliance team that has expanded from three or four members when he joined to tenfold growth in just that time.”
Liniger continued, observing that many of Relai’s peers allocate up to a third of their workforce to deal with regulatory compliance.
While he remains optimistic that companies such as Coinbase and Kraken challenging the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will create precedents that encourage regulators to ease their grip, he recognizes that the trend of regulatory overreach is unlikely to reverse soon—something that concerns him.
“We lack the resources they possess,” said Liniger, contrasting Relai’s financial capacity with the substantial funds at Coinbase and Kraken’s disposal for legal battles against regulators.
This reality is one reason Relai chose not to contest the regulators when they mandated KYC for all users.
KYC Mandatory, Yet Hope Remains
Relai recently announced that all users must submit personal information by October 31, 2024, to maintain app access, following four years of providing services without such requirements.
“We were essentially compelled by EU regulators and, increasingly, Swiss regulators to make this change,” Liniger stated regarding the necessity of implementing KYC processes. “There’s significant pressure from the EU on Switzerland.”
Though Liniger didn’t express enthusiasm about this development, he sounded resolute, seemingly more focused than ever on his mission to expand Bitcoin access to the vast majority of EU and UK citizens who have yet to engage with it.
“More than half of the population will seek some form of access to Bitcoin simply because it acts as a savings technology,” Liniger explained, indicating he still has roughly 200 million potential customers to reach in the broader market Relai serves (a 170-fold increase over their current user base).
He noted, however, that some of these potential customers might prefer to invest in Bitcoin or Bitcoin ETFs managed by major financial institutions instead of using Relai. Nevertheless, he believes that younger generations, who tend to be more skeptical of traditional finance, will opt for Relai.
“The more forward-thinking younger crowd will desire to hold their own assets,” Liniger asserted. “They’ll leverage platforms like Relai, where they can directly purchase and self-custody Bitcoin, unlocking a path to secure their savings and purchasing power for the future.”
