Relai Leverages 21 Analytics to Sell Bitcoin Compliantly

The Challenge

Launched in 2020, Relai enabled customers with no crypto experience to easily buy and store Bitcoin. At the time, Relai leveraged its partnership with the broker Bity to act as an intermediary, processing their customers' orders.

However, because the founders, Julian Liniger and Adem Bilican, wanted to turn Relai into a one-stop shop for easy Bitcoin investment, they decided to incorporate brokerage into their business functions.

This vision meant a change in their compliance obligations, bringing challenges to Relai's operations, especially to the compliance team.
Due to their new service - allowing their customers to buy Bitcoin to their Relai wallet or any other self-hosted wallet - Relai officially became a VASP, which meant compliance with FINMA's requirement:

"[...] transactions are only permitted from and to external wallets if these belong to one of the institution's own customers. Their ownership of the external wallet must be proven using suitable technical means."FINMA Guidance 02/2019 Payments on the blockchain

As a startup focusing on efficiency, Relai looked for automated ways to not disrupt their customers' journey. Since Switzerland was one of the first countries to enforce such a rule, it was important that Relai complied without adding friction for its users so that international competitors could not leverage a better user experience.

The Solution

To be compliant, Relai turned to 21 Analytics' solution. With 21's product, ownership proofs are fully automated and, therefore, as easy for the compliance team as they are for customers.

Relai aims to make investing in Bitcoin as easy as possible. When a user wants to buy Bitcoin, the app automatically asks them to prove they own the depositing wallet by signing a message from their external Bitcoin address.
Once the message is signed, Relai confirms wallet ownership and allows the withdrawal to proceed smoothly and without interruption. The entire process runs in the background, with no changes needed to the app’s user interface.

According to Adem Bilicen, Relai's CTO, 21 Analytics' solution was ready-to-use. “With such an easy implementation process, it would have been way more costly to develop a product solution internally.”

Relai solved the ownership proof problem for all wallets at once and achieved compliance from day one.

The Results

For Relai, the two key advantages of 21 Analytics' solution are its seamless user experience and smooth software integration. The excellent user experience ensures that each transaction is processed automatically, keeping users engaged without interruptions or added complexity.

The software implementation was remarkably quick; Relai’s CTO spent no more than two hours on the entire integration. Additionally, a requested feature was delivered in record time, going live over a single weekend.

Adem Bilicen

CTO, Relai

“We want to empower the customer to do everything on mobile, so connecting hardware wallets to Android smartphones for easier proofs is key: and 21 Analytics' solution is what enables this amazing compliance experience.”

• 21 Analytics’ solution auto-verifies self-hosted wallet ownership, ensuring full Swiss Travel Rule compliance without manual steps.
• Automated ownership proof lets users complete transactions without disruption, enabling 100% success.
• Implementation took under two hours, cutting costs and speeding up compliance.
• Relai solved wallet ownership proof at scale, enabling confident growth with ongoing compliance.
• 21 Analytics delivered a requested feature within 48 hours, supporting Relai's mobile-first vision and product growth.