Founder: Prashanth Chandrashekar
Date Based: March 2023
Location of Headquarters: Lithuania
Variety of Staff: 3 full-time, 3 contract employees
Web site: https://bringin.xyz/
Public or Non-public? Non-public
With Bringin, it’s now simpler than ever to reside on a bitcoin normal in Europe.
The net app (and soon-to-be-released cellular app) allows customers to virtually immediately convert bitcoin from both a base chain or Lightning pockets to a digital Visa debit card that can be utilized wherever Visa is accepted.
Bringin’s founder Prashanth Chandrashekar conceptualized the product after struggling to transform his bitcoin into euros.
“Two years ago while living in Estonia, I used to get paid in bitcoin, and it took almost four days to liquidate the bitcoin and get euros into Revolut to spend,” Chandrashekar instructed Bitcoin Journal.
[Author’s note: When Chandrashekar uses the term “liquidate,” he’s referring to converting bitcoin into fiat.]
“That’s why I wanted to build a tool that allows users to liquidate Bitcoin. I think liquidating bitcoin instantly and being able to use bitcoin is one of the key factors for getting the value of bitcoin into the world today,” he added.
What Chandrashekar and his group have constructed is akin to a service like Bitrefill, although extra dynamic, and it has extra capabilities.
How Bringin Works
Bringin operates in all nations that use the euro, and it lets customers convert bitcoin in a Lightning pockets into euros in underneath a minute. (On-chain transactions take longer, roughly 10 minutes, as they have to be confirmed on the blockchain.)
To most effectively convert bitcoin into euros, customers merely pay a Lightning bill denominated within the quantity of euros they need on their digital debit card and people euros turn out to be obtainable for spending quickly after.
On the back-end, the method appears like this: Bringin points every of its customers a digital IBAN (International Financial institution Account Quantity). This quantity is then used to interface with the SEPA system, which allows customers within the Euro Zone to make cashless euro funds.
Utilizing SEPA Instant Credit score Transfers, which allow transfers of as much as 15,000 euros in underneath 10 seconds, together with Lightning funds, customers can convert their bitcoin into euros in virtually no time flat.
Chandrashekar illustrated how shortly this all takes place in a current X put up:
I simply Booked a cab with SATs on my @getAlby node!
Utilizing @bringinxyz debit card!
Dwelling on Bitcoin normal has by no means been simpler than now!
Pre-order one for your self right now! You’re going to get entry in days.
Hyperlink 👇 person code BTCTOTHEMOON to get 10% off 🚀 pic.twitter.com/fliHbS6Z6J
— Prashanth (@prashanthc123) January 31, 2025
Customers should undergo the KYC course of to make use of the service, although, Bringin by no means custodies person funds, which implies that Bringing customers can choose to make use of non-custodial Bitcoin or Lightning wallets.
“You can use your Alby Hub and liquidate directly into the debit card using Nostr Wallet Connect (NWC),” defined Chandrashekar. “We’ve created a more direct link between your self-custody wallet and your bank account.”
The Street To Bringin
Chandrashekar started creating Bringin in September 2022 (although, he didn’t incorporate till March 2023).
Earlier than engaged on this product, he was employed by the now defunct Lastbit, which aimed to unravel an identical drawback.
“We were building consumer-facing payment applications for Europe,” stated Chandrashekar. “The application allowed users to buy bitcoin instantly, make and receive Lightning payments, and we also shipped a MasterCard debit card that could be funded with Lightning transactions.”
Chandrashekar shared that the challenge was scrapped, although, as a consequence of quite a lot of difficulties.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t scale the service,” he stated. “We were too early, and there were a lot of compliance hurdles.”
Not wanting to surrender on making a product like Lastbit, Chandrashekar moved to Estonia with some members of the Lastbit group, obtained the correct licenses and commenced constructing Bringin.
“Lastbit pivoted from building a consumer application to being more of an infrastructure company, providing tool links for other companies to build on top of it,” defined Chandrashekar.
So, at the moment, I used to be nonetheless working with the corporate and serving to them with the infrastructure, however I felt the necessity to construct a shopper product that allowed folks to do what Lastbit initially aimed to perform,” he added.
“So, I hopped out and started my own venture to help consumers and other Bitcoiners who had a problem like mine.”
A Third Technology Alternate
Bringin not solely serves as a bitcoin off-ramp, however an on-ramp, as properly.
“Users can use Lightning addresses to buy Bitcoin,” defined Chandrashekar. “Today, you can go to Bringin, enter “10 euros,” “[email protected],” “Send funds” and the sats seem in your Alby Hub.”
(Customers can join with any pockets that helps NWC. Bringin additionally allows transfers utilizing Blink pockets, and intends to broaden their integrations, in line with Chandrashekar.)
As a result of Bringin can facilitate a lot of these seamless transactions between non-custodial wallets and the standard banking and fee rails, Chandrashekar conceptualizes Bringin as a “third generation” trade.
“There have been multiple generations of exchanges,” he started.
“Originally, we saw all kinds of exchanges where you place a limit order, check the order book and make a purchase. That evolved into a mobile wallet like Venmo, which is custodial, where you instantly swap for bitcoin. That was the second generation of exchanges,” he added.
“Bringin is a third generation exchange, because it’s not a custodial solution where you put funds and then swap it and the bitcoin stays in the custody of the exchange. It allows not only for instant swapping, but also takes care of movement of funds from the banking system to the Bitcoin and Lightning networks.”
Bringin’s Roadmap
Transferring ahead, Chandrashekar plans to streamline Bringin’s operations whereas broadening the providers the platform presents.
At present, Bringin works with a companion enterprise to situation and handle debit playing cards, however Chandrashekar want to change that.
“Right now, we are a distributor and technology provider, and we don’t have direct partnership with Visa, so we white label our partner’s debit cards,” defined Chandrashekar. “But we eventually want to get our direct partnership with Visa.”
Chandrashekar additionally appears ahead to onboarding extra retailers, as the corporate already makes it straightforward for companies to start using Bringin.
“We have integrations with BTCPay Server and Opago Pay,” stated Chandrashekar. “Retailers can obtain Bitcoin funds and immediately convert part of it or the entire fee into euros through a Bringin IBAN account.”
And Chandrashekar is working to partner Bringin with a bitcoin borrowing and lending platform.
“The intent here is that the users can provide bitcoin as collateral and receive loans in euros,” he explained, adding that most Bitcoin borrowing and lending services only offer loans in US dollars or US dollar stablecoins.
Beyond these plans, Chandrashekar remains motivated to continue to improve Bringin’s on-ramping technology.
“You need to get bitcoin into your favorite wallet, and there’s a huge amount of friction there,” he said. “Our intention is to get bitcoin to everyone by allowing users to get bitcoin directly into the wallet of their choosing with no friction whatsoever, directly from the bank.”
