Relai
Relai is a savings app from Zurich for buying bitcoin, and bitcoin is the only asset it sells. Users buy from 50 euros or francs at a time or set up a monthly savings plan, and the bitcoin goes into a wallet in the app that only the user controls through a recovery phrase of 12 words.
Julian Liniger and Adem Bilican founded Relai in 2020, and Julian Liniger leads the company as CEO. Relai reports more than 100,000 users, and its French unit RELAI EU SASU has held a MiCA authorization from the AMF since 23 October 2025 for the exchange of bitcoin against euros.
A bitcoin app without custody
Relai does not hold the bitcoin of its customers at any point. The app creates the wallet on the phone of the user, and the 12-word recovery phrase is the only way to restore it, so a lost phone without the phrase means lost bitcoin.
The recovery phrase is the backup of the private key, and anyone who holds the 12 words can move the bitcoin in the wallet.
Authorization under MiCA
The AMF authorized RELAI EU SASU, the French subsidiary of Relai, on 23 October 2025 as a provider under MiCA for the exchange of bitcoin against funds. Relai announced the license on 27 October 2025 and said that it allows SEPA transfers and higher purchase limits in the EU.
The European register lists 26 host countries of the EU beyond France for Relai. In Switzerland, Relai AG is a member of the self-regulatory organization VQF.
Relai Private and Relai Business
Relai Private is the service for customers who invest more than 100,000 euros or francs in bitcoin, and Relai Business is the version for companies that hold bitcoin in their treasury. Relai is one of the bitcoin companies in Switzerland that sell only bitcoin to private savers.
Upcoming bitcoin seminars
The Relai app
The Relai app runs on iPhone and Android phones and combines the purchase, the savings plan and the bitcoin wallet in one app. Users verify their identity in the app, pay by bank transfer and see their bitcoin balance in euros or francs.
Fees for buying bitcoin
Relai charges a fee of 1 percent on each purchase, or 0.9 percent with an invitation code from another user. The first monthly savings plan up to 100 euros or francs runs without Relai fees, according to the price list of the company.
Buying and selling bitcoin
Users buy bitcoin from 50 euros or francs by bank transfer, as a single purchase or as a recurring savings plan. Relai also buys bitcoin back from its users and pays the proceeds to their bank account, which counts as an exchange against funds under MiCA.
Moving bitcoin to a hardware wallet
Since the wallet belongs to the user, bitcoin can be sent from Relai to any address, for example to a hardware wallet. The transfer costs a network fee, which the user pays to the bitcoin network and not to Relai.
MiCA license from France
The MiCA license comes from France because Relai runs its EU business through RELAI EU SASU, a company under French law. With the European passport, the same license covers savers in Germany, Austria and the other host countries of the EU.
Relai and Finance Loop
Finance Loop explains bitcoin to banks and asset managers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in its own Bitcoin seminars. Finance Loop is a founding member of the German Bitcoin association, the Bitcoin Bundesverband, and follows how bitcoin apps such as Relai work under MiCA.
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