Relai is a Bitcoin investment app based in Switzerland. In this review, you will learn what the app does, how it works, and whether you should use it or not.

If you are looking for a step-by-step guide: click here 
The translation in Dutch 🇳🇱 can be found here

How Does Relai Work?

Relai is a “Made in Switzerland” smartphone app that enables anyone in Europe to buy Bitcoin without ID verification within minutes.

Their vision?

‘To empower you to save for a better future by making investing in Bitcoin as simple as possible.’

Others in this ‘CrYpTo’ space are adding more coins, more complexity, and more features – but Relai continues to keep things simple – Bitcoin only – and enhance the customer experience. 

Almost anyone in Europe can use the Relai app.

For new users, the app can be downloaded from all Play Stores. The iOS version is only available in Swiss, Austria, France, German, and Italian App Stores. Most likely in the first quarter of 2024, the app will also be available in all App Stores.

You do not need to register an account or go through a KYC process. That means that you can start using the app immediately.

To buy Bitcoin, you type in the amount of BTC you want to buy, confirm the transaction, and then make a bank transfer to relai to complete the transaction.

Additionally, you can dollar-cost average bitcoin by setting up recurring weekly or monthly bitcoin investments using a standing order from your bank.

Here are the key points:

• Relai is a provider where you can easily, safely, and affordably purchase Bitcoins.
• Very user-friendly with excellent support.
• No verification/registration is required.
• Using the code CRYPTOFRIDAY, setting up a savings plan, and transferring at least €100 reduces the fees to only 1% (instead of 2.5%).
• Soon the Relai wallet will become Lightning-enabled to send & receive BTC instantly and for free.

Overview:

The startup Relai was founded in 2019 by CEO Julian Liniger and CTO Adem Bilican, with later support from investors Lars Diener Kimmich and Nick Haller. On July 3, 2020, the first version of the Relai app went live and has since become one of the most popular apps for regularly buying Bitcoins in Europe. At the moment of writing this blog post, 280K app downloads have been reached

Relai’s vision is far-reaching, and every Bitcoin enthusiast and regular Bitcoin buyer should keep an eye on this Zurich-based company for the long term.

User-Friendly Design & UX:

Especially for beginners who are new to the market and may want to buy their first Bitcoins/Satoshis with Relai, a user-friendly design helps ease any concerns. The Relai app is designed so that anyone, regardless of age or experience, can make a Bitcoin purchase.

Even in the registration process, which still doesn’t require any verification procedures such as uploading identification documents or providing numerous personal details, Relai continues to excel.

However, there is a small downside regarding user-friendliness, which mainly concerns advanced users—specifically, those who want to send a purchase via Relai directly to their own hardware wallet.

For legal reasons, Relai must obtain a cryptographic signature for the corresponding withdrawal address from its customers. However, users typically rely on software located on their PC/Mac to perform the signature process, not on their smartphone. 

Since the manufacturer software of hardware wallets usually does not offer a function to sign a message, Electrum must be used for this purpose.

Electrum is an open-source Bitcoin wallet software.

So, the message to be signed must be sent from the Relai app to the PC, where the signature is created (Electrum), and then sent back to the smartphone or app. Unfortunately, this slightly hinders the user experience at this point.

Nevertheless, I think Relai has an easy and user-friendly design, that is as easy as Bitvavo, Binance, and other centralized exchanges but without the KYC & shitcoin nonsense.

Functionality:

To fairly evaluate the functionality of the Relai app, one must consider its primary use case. The primary focus of the app and Relai’s service is on the simple and regular purchase of Bitcoin. Therefore, the app should primarily be compared with other broker services in this context.

Nevertheless, there are some features desirable for a DCA (Dollar-Cost Averaging) app like Relai.

For example, users can manage their own mnemonic phrase (12 words). Thus, Relai does not have access to the purchased and stored Bitcoins.

Note: Always make sure you have accurately noted the 12 mnemonic words, the so-called ‘seed phrase’. These words are the backup for your Bitcoins!

The absence of an internal (managed by Relai) wallet could potentially be problematic for beginners because they must first familiarize themselves with the concept of private keys and mnemonic phrases.

A feature for advanced users, such as easy withdrawal or, ideally, direct purchase to their own (hardware) wallet, has been met by Relai since the relaunch to version 2.0.

Touch/Face ID, push notifications, and other functions are standard features as well.

On the 17th of May, this year Relai reworked and improved the app’s user interface. The onboarding process and core functions, like buying and selling, are now even easier to use.

Purchasing Process:

To demonstrate how easy it is to buy Bitcoins through Relai, let’s briefly outline the process. Especially when purchasing to the internal wallet, the entire buying process takes less than three minutes.

By tapping the blue plus symbol in the middle of the app at the bottom, the menu opens. From there, under “Buy,” you can set the desired amount and choose whether you want to make a one-time purchase or invest at regular intervals through a savings plan.

Tip🚨: If you use the savings plan function and transfer at least €100, you can save on fees. More on that in the “Fees” section.

Enter your bank details, add a referral code (using the code CRYPTOFRIDAY reduces fees by 0.5 percentage points), confirm the investment, and you’re done.

Note: To activate the “Add External Wallet Address” feature, you need to enable advanced features in your profile settings.

Next, the order details and bank information for transferring the money will be displayed.

Payments are associated with individual IBANs and the corresponding amount, not with a long order number, as one might expect.

Once the money arrives at Relai, it is converted into Bitcoins, minus the fees, and sent to your own wallet (either internal or external). 

To sum it up:

To buy Bitcoin, follow these steps:

• Tap “Buy Bitcoin.”
• Choose the amount you want to purchase.
• Select a frequency. For instance, choose whether you want to buy BTC once, monthly, or weekly. (If you use the savings plan function, reduce your fees by using a referral code)
• Press “Next” and type in your IBAN from where you will send money.
• Tap “Next.” You will see a screen with the payment details. Send the exact amount of funds to these details. You will receive your Bitcoin once your bank transfers the money.

Fees:

Over the last couple of years, the fee structure has become considerably more affordable and is now very competitive in terms of prices and fees.

Relai charges an all-inclusive 2.5 percent fee on each buy-and-sell transaction. The charge is all-inclusive because it covers the brokerage, service, and network fees. Moreover, it covers the spread, and optionally even down to a possible final fee of just 1%.

When setting up a savings plan, making transactions over €100 (or CHF), and using a referral code, the fee is reduced by 0.5% each.

So, if you set up a Bitcoin savings plan of at least €100 and use our referral code CRYPTOFRIDAY, you can save a significant amount of money!

Since competitor companies typically charge fees ranging from 1.5% to 3%, Relai is clearly leading in this regard!

Relai is even offering one free Bitcoin purchase per month by charging 0 percent fees for one order of up to 100 CHF/EUR. For now, the zero fee stacking is only applicable to single orders and not weekly or monthly auto-invest orders. 

Withdrawal Fees:

To perform a withdrawal to your own wallet, network fees, which depend on how heavily the Bitcoin blockchain is used at the time of withdrawal, apply. To keep these fees as low as possible, Relai uses a technique called transaction batching, where withdrawals from many individuals are combined into a single transaction. This also results in significant fee savings.

Accepted Currencies:

Relai accepts Euro and CHF. But if you are in the UK, for example, and your banking app (such as Revolut) also has euro accounts, you can still use Relai.

Security:

The app offers a non-custodial wallet. That means that you are in control of your private keys and coins. The keys are stored and encrypted on your mobile phone’s local storage. This guarantees users that their keys are secure as long as they back up the seed phrases and keep their phones safe.

On the other hand, your coins are on the Bitcoin blockchain, which is immutable and secured by the strongest computer network in the world.

What makes Relai truly unique is its resemblance to a Bitcoin ATM, sparing users from the hassle of KYC and AML procedures. While the platform does introduce transaction limits, it goes the extra mile to ensure that the person initiating the payment is the same individual receiving the Bitcoin. This fusion of top-notch security and user-friendly features positions Relai as a prime choice for Bitcoin enthusiasts seeking a seamless and secure experience.

License:

Relai’s licensing as a Virtual Asset Service Provider, through membership in the Association for the Quality Assurance of Financial Services. The company can operate as an independent broker and is no longer dependent on collaboration with other services. These services naturally wanted to earn their share, which is why Relai previously, before the relaunch, was forced to charge high fees.

Support:

We can also highly commend Relai’s support at this point. There is a relatively extensive helpdesk on the website where the most important questions are already answered straightforwardly.

However, if you have an individual problem and need assistance, the company even offers a chat function through which you can connect with an employee who can usually contribute to problem-solving quickly and without complications.

This function is available only during regular office hours. If a problem arises late in the evening or on the weekend, you can still send a message to the support team via email.

My Conclusion:

Relai is an easy-to-use auto-investing app that enables almost anyone in Europe to buy Bitcoin without ID verification within minutes and for those who are brave enough to venture into the beautiful world of Bitcoin.

Relai is certainly a service that I can recommend without hesitation to both beginners and advanced users. However, beginners should familiarize themselves with the concept of mnemonic phrases, seeds, and private keys at least at a basic level. Relai’s team does not have access to their customers’ wallets, customers are responsible for their own security!

For beginners entering the world of Bitcoin, Relai is an excellent choice to consider. But the app is also welcomed and often preferred by experienced Bitcoiners. Their customer onboarding process is extremely fast, easy, and painless. 

The fees, when combined with making transactions over 100 CHF/EUR and using the referral code CRYPTOFRIDAY make it great value for money, and very competitive with the bigger more established exchanges.

Thanks for taking the time to read to the end, and I hope you enjoyed this Relai review.

Please let me know in the comments if you already use Relai and why. If you have any questions, please drop a comment or send me a DM on Instagram.