Bitwala planning expansion into Mexico and Japan, offering ‎€5 to testers

The Netherlands-based Bitcoin payment service startup recently announced that it will enter the Mexican Peso and popular Japanese Yen markets. “In order to be able to provide you with the best Bitcoin and Altcoin to Mexican Peso service, we need your help!,” states the company.

Founded in March 2015, Bitwala aims to be a one-stop-shop for all kinds of bitcoin-to-fiat billpay solutions. The service currently supports SEPA payments, but has people from all over the world sending money to Europe.

Users can arrange a SEPA bank transfer to pay rent or a credit car bill., and send money to someone’s email address. Although the service currently supports 17 fiat currencies, the service doesn’t cover bank accounts in most countries yet, including the US.

The European SEPA network operates across the 33-nation Eurozone countries’ banking network. The network charge is 0.5 percent per transaction, with a €1 minimum fee. Using the SWIFT payment network would cost Bitwala users a €15 euro minimum fee, and takes several business days.

The company received US$910,000 in seed funding last April, from KfW Banking Group and the Digital Currency Group, and has been busy developing the service every day since.

“One of our goals here at Bitwala is to make sending money abroad as easy, convenient, and secure for anyone.”
— – Bitwala

The company launched it’s own Visa debit card in the same month. The card cost ‎€1, and incurs the standard 0.5% fee. The card pulls local currency directly out of your Bitwala wallet bitcoin balance, and is accepted anywhere Visa is. The card requires the typicaly Know Your Customer documentation, sending them some sort of identification document and a copy of a utility bill, much like competitors cards from Shift and Bitpay.

A partnership with ShapeShift followed in July. Bitwala users can now pay bills, making transfers or topping up debit card using any one of the service’s 36+ cryptocunrrencies.

The company then launched the Bitwala messenger, a web app messenger that allows customers to interact and send money to each other, and their own bitcoin wallet. This has allowed debit card and bitcoin transactions from within the Bitwala site, simplifying the process. With the wallet at the center of their offering, their service works more like Coinbase’s bitcoin banking account in the US.

A string of further upgrades to the website were launched last month, including a full re-design with live on-site help, and now the company is steadily rolling new currency networks, and hinted on their blog about launching some sort of store as well.

The startup plans to offer a similar service to SEPA’s network, and the Yen is the first of the many fiat currencies their targeting, followed by the Peso. Bitwala is also offering a financial incentive to early adopters.

The European startup will send anyone with a Mexican or Japanese bank account five euros, while scoping out the average transaction time, according to Bitwala’s blog. There is no expiration date for the offer.

"Customers in Japan will be able to pay bills, send money or top up their Bitwala debit card with Bitcoin or any major Altcoins.”

• Bitwala

Japan is the country with the second largest volume of bitcoin trade globally, with global yen trading typically between two and four times as much as global USD volume. The growth started earlier this year, when the Japanese government stiplulated that the Financial Services Agency recognize bitcoin as an asset-like money. The Bank of Japan had several good things to say about bitcoin and blockchains at their latest settlement forum as well. Bitcoin trade volumes and news of merchants signing up have been gaining pace ever since.

The ‘Coincheck Electricity’ platform will be launching in November. The popular bitcoin exchange’s payments platform allows customers in central Japan, including Tokyo, to pay their electricity bills with bitcoin. There is even a rebate of 4 to 6 percent for payments in the cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin ATM machines have also popped up around the land of the rising sun. There are currently 11 ATMs showing on CoinATMRadar, seven in the Tokyo area alone. However, with nearly 200 of the world’s 800 bitcoin ATMs in Europe, Bitwala is used to the competition.

“We see a huge potential for Japan to open up to the innovative technology that lies within the blockchain and the wonders of using Bitcoin on a daily basis.”

• Bitwala

In Mexico, Bitwala’s competition may be a bit stiffer for consumer payments. Mexican payment processor MercadoPago started accepting Bitcoins into their platform used by 150,000+ merchants. Most of their retailers are online, however, such as WalMart, Groupon, HP, and Lenovo.

Only three bitcoin ATM machines are listed in Mexico on CoinATMRadar. Unfortunately, a bitcoin company that went out of business last summer, Sendbitcoin.mx, used to be able to send and receive bitcoins at any of 6,000 ATM machines nationwide. The company ceased business when the Mexican government temporarily made it illegal to send and receive bitcoins from outside of the country. The law has since been clarified to prevent large purchases, and ensure users are leaving an adequate paper trail for tax purposes.