Yes, that’s exactly what I mean by the on- and off-ramp. If I receive my salary and want to set aside a few hundred CHF every month (or CHF 100 every week), I have to make a bank transfer to Kraken every time. If that transfer costs CHF 1, that’s already a 1% fee on CHF 100 before I even buy any Bitcoin. Then there’s also the withdrawal fee to move it to my hardware wallet.

Maybe I’m misunderstanding something, but for someone who doesn’t already have CHF 50,000 sitting in their bank account to pre-fund Kraken with a large amount, this becomes relevant. Many people simply invest from each paycheck as it comes in.

And no, I don’t work for Relai. I’m also interested in other providers like 21Bitcoin, and I’ve used Coinfinity before as well. I liked that Coinfinity had no spread, but I wasn’t a fan of the user interface.

I’ve used exchanges too, but in the end I wanted to get away from the whole “shitcoin casino” experience. I also prefer not having to manually send money abroad every week and keep track of whether everything was invested correctly. I just set up a standing order from my Swiss bank account, sats are bought automatically every week, and when the amount is large enough and on-chain fees are low, I send everything to my hardware wallet. For me, that’s a much simpler onboarding experience for the average person.

Yeah, but if you’re paying CHF 1 per transaction every time, then as mentioned, it only really makes sense for larger amounts. As a hardcore Bitcoin maxi, it definitely makes sense to accumulate as many sats as possible. But someone who only invests, say, CHF 50 per week or CHF 200 per month could actually end up with a worse deal. (CHF 50/week with a CHF 1 SIC fee equals a 2% fee.)

It’s simply much easier to onboard people with a domestic Swiss bank transfer and direct self-custody.

I see your points, but not everyone wants to navigate the Kraken Pro interface, send a SIC transfer to a US-based company with a bank account in Liechtenstein, and then make another on-chain transaction to move the funds to their hardware wallet.

If you transfer CHF 200 per week for 10 years, that’s approximately CHF 104,000 in total. The full 0.9% fee charged by Relai would amount to around CHF 936.-. This calculation does not include any SEPA transfer fees or the trading fees for buying Bitcoin on Kraken.

So from my perspective, your calculation only partially adds up unless you’re including Bitcoin’s price appreciation in the calculation.

So you don't pay SEPA when you send money to Kraken? Do they have a swiss bank account?

Yeah, if your only concern is fees, then Kraken is probably the better option.

However, if you’re running a small DCA plan—say $200 per week—and you pay an extra $1 for every bank transfer, you’re already getting pretty close to Relai’s fees. (And yes, UTXO management should also be taken into account.)

If, on the other hand, you’re buying larger amounts once a month, even though that may result in a different average entry price, Kraken will likely be the cheaper choice overall.

That said, with Relai you’re in self-custody from day one, and for beginners it’s much safer than throwing them into the shitcoin jungle that is Kraken. Kraken Pro is also packed with features that can be overwhelming for new users.

So yes, it may be cheaper—but it comes with its own set of trade-offs.

Kraken isn’t based in Switzerland, though. As long as you don’t transfer your Bitcoin to your hardware wallet, Kraken remains the custodian. Also, every transfer to a foreign account costs me a SEPA fee.

What I really like is being able to DCA directly from my Swiss savings account into sats without having to do anything else. For me, that’s a big convenience factor.

Kraken isn’t based in Switzerland, though. As long as you don’t transfer your Bitcoin to your hardware wallet, Kraken remains the custodian. Also, every transfer to a foreign account costs me a SEPA fee.

What I really like is being able to DCA directly from my Swiss savings account into sats without having to do anything else. For me, that’s a big convenience factor.

I use Relai instead. It’s a simple platform focused on buying, selling, and saving sats. It also comes with its own integrated software wallet, and Relai never holds custody of your funds.

From there, you can easily transfer your bitcoin to your hardware wallet whenever you want. You can also choose to save directly to your hardware wallet from the start.

That said, I prefer saving to the software wallet first and then sending larger UTXOs to my hardware wallet. This helps keep my UTXO set cleaner and can reduce transaction fees in the future.

Another reason I use Relai is that it’s based in Switzerland, which is important to me because I live here.

GN

GN 😴