Bitwala, touted "The Blockchain Bank", is a global blockchain-based wallet and payment service provider headquartered in Berlin, Germany. It was founded by Jörg von Minckwitz, Jan Goslicki, and Benjamin P. Jones in October 2015.
Bitwala allows fast SEPA and SWIFT money transfers by exchanging Bitcoin to over 20 fiat currencies to any bank account in over 200 countries worldwide. Except Bitcoin, Bitwala accepts all major cryptocurrencies through a partnership with ShapeShift.
It also offers a Bitcoin debit / prepaid card and also operates as a bitcoin wallet service to store, send and receive Bitcoin.
As a result, the company services allow users to make fast money transfers using any cryptocurrency, and pay their bills top-up through a Visa prepaid card which can be topped-up by converting Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash held in their bitwala wallet to fiat money.
However, as of Jan 5, 2018, Bitwala deactivated all Visa debit cards promising customers a full refund of their card balance.