Bitwala Launches Bitcoin Interest Account With up to 4.3% Annual Rate

Neobanking service provider Bitwala on Thursday introduced a new account that offers its 80,000 European customers passive bitcoin (BTC) income.

The Bitwala Interest Account allows users to earn up to 4.3% interest per annum for BTC held at the bank.

According to the Berlin-based company, account holders can buy bitcoin at Bitwala from as little as 30 euros ($32), hold it free of charge, and earn interest, which is paid out every Monday.

There are no lock-up periods, meaning that BTC holdings can be liquidated and withdrawn any time, it said.

The new account has been launched in cooperation with cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network, which lends out BTC held by Bitwala users to “trusted institutional partners.”

Celsius Network has been paying an average of 3.4% p.a. in bitcoin since November 2019, said the German bank.

Bitwala’s 4.3% rate is, however, less than half of what some decentralized finance platforms with similar interest-earning accounts offer.

Ben Jones, chief executive…