Startup Radar: Why I like Relai, The Easiest Way to Buy Bitcoins Instantly

Eddie Shih
Coinmonks
3 min readMar 19, 2023

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Recent financial market developments may be causing many people to be concerned. The effects of years of quantitative easing and the potential harm that raising rates in response to hyperinflation could cause to different parts of the industry and the global economy are beginning to be seen. Nothing is certain and this serves as a reminder of how history tends to repeat itself, and the importance of following basic principles of personal finance, such as diversification.

Some may inquire as to where to diversify. I have begun to allocate part of my portfolio to Cryptocurrencies and rethink my investments given the present conditions. This brings to mind a Swiss 🇨🇭startup, Relai, which I had the pleasure of meeting its founder, Julian Liniger, in Zurich last December. I had the opportunity to hear his personal story and that of Relai, along with its mission. I like Relai’s ideas and am confident that what they are striving to accomplish will have a major impact.

Below are my rationales:

  1. “Simplicity”: Perhaps personal bias, I prefer simple and easy-to-understand business models over more complex ones. Relai is focused solely on Bitcoin and provides a hassle-free way to purchase it. No registration or deposits are required, and you can choose from lump-sum purchases or set up a savings plan. Payment methods are flexible too.
  2. Financial literacy and future growth potential: There is great potential for Relai to contribute to enhancing financial literacy in the decentralized finance investing space among crypto-suspicious individuals worldwide. The platform is easy to understand and focuses on Bitcoins, making it ideal for individuals unfamiliar with the crypto space. With the right regulatory framework, Relai has the potential to penetrate markets beyond Europe, such as certain Asian countries. This could significantly expand the reach of the platform and help spread financial literacy in the decentralized finance sector.
  3. “Made in Switzerland?”: I traveled to Zurich last December to try to understand what has made Switzerland successful (I know it’s a bit tricky to mention this point at the moment). I am unsure of the value that the Swiss logo could add to Relai, however, I believe that if investing in Bitcoin becomes a “mainstream culture” among college students and young professionals, people will require an intuitive platform to enable them to participate in this trend. For me, this is similar to how Instagram gained a significant market share in the social media industry a few years ago because it’s “cool” & “easy to use”.

I am still not a staunch supporter of all aspects of Web 3.0, but I am slowly beginning to educate myself on the technology and take action to gain a comprehensive understanding. I think that investing a small portion of your asset allocation into the space is a great place to start, as it will give you the incentive to stay up to date on how it has grown and advanced.

I am delighted to see that Relai has recently been able to secure an additional round of funding ($4.5M) from investors such as Ego Death Capital, Lightning Ventures, and Redalpine, resulting in a post-valuation of $20M. This infusion of capital will no doubt help the Relai team to meet the ambitious goals on their product development roadmap for this year, which can be viewed here.

And if you’d like to try the platform for yourself, feel free to use our referral code: REL132688 to get a 0.5% reduction in your transaction fees!

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Eddie Shih
Coinmonks

Solve problems for young professionals 🚀 Founder of Project Telescope. Former @BlackRock & @McKinsey. https://projtelescope.page/home