Bare Bitcoin is Norway’s first Bitcoin-only exchange, designed to make investing simple, secure, and transparent.

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In this interview, co-founders Torkel and Bjørn Olav share how they overcame payment challenges that investment startups face, built trust in a volatile market, and leveraged open banking technology to deliver a seamless user experience.

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About Bare Bitcoin: Norway’s Bitcoin-Only Exchange

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Q: What is Bare Bitcoin, and how did you get started? ‍

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Bare Bitcoin: The idea started back in 2017. We were convinced Bitcoin is fundamentally different from other cryptocurrencies, but we didn’t have the technical know‑how to build the platform we envisioned. By 2021, we had the capabilities—and while Bitcoin has been in flux since, we kept building. That timing was good for us: we wanted to be ready for the next turn, with a platform focused on secure Bitcoin investing and a clear, user‑friendly experience.

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Why Focus Exclusively on Bitcoin?

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Q: Why did you choose a Bitcoin‑only approach? ‍

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Bare Bitcoin: We were frustrated by the influx of alternative coins and shady exchanges. For us, Bitcoin stands apart. We wanted a platform that’s exclusive to Bitcoin, easy to understand, and genuinely educational for consumers. Our mission is to make investing in Bitcoin in Norway simple, secure, and transparent—not noisy or confusing.

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Payment Challenges for Investment Startups

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Q: What were the biggest payment challenges you faced?

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Bare Bitcoin: Two things: we’re a small company, and we’re crypto‑focused. That combination made bank accounts and payment solutions hard to access. Card payments were especially tough—getting a real person to take us seriously was a challenge. In a market damaged by bad actors, simply getting in the door took persistence.

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Q: What about trust—how did you address the “shady exchanges” perception?
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Bare Bitcoin: Ever since Bitcoin started trading, bad exchanges have hurt the industry’s reputation. That hasn’t been our experience in Norway, and building trust is at the core of everything we do. We aim to show that Bitcoin is a solid investment when you do things properly—clear compliance, strong payment verification, and honest communication with users.

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How Open Banking and BankID Improve Crypto Payments

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Q: What payment challenges do consumers face—and how does open banking help? ‍

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Bare Bitcoin: With traditional card payments, we can’t trust the name we’re given, and fraud checks aren’t simple. That’s where open banking payments through Neonomics and BankID change the game. With account verification and secure customer authentication, we receive the account number and name of the sender when the transfer is initiated. The user is verified via BankID, and we can match that data internally to prevent fraud proactively. We’ve never had issues with those verified payments—and we can credit user accounts when the payment is initiated, so they can trade right away.

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Q: What’s the downside of manual bank transfers? ‍

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Bare Bitcoin: Manual checks are time‑consuming and more error‑prone. The bigger issue is the lag: transfer late on Friday, and the money might not land until Tuesday. That causes a wave of support requests and user anxiety. Bitcoin is a dynamic asset—4 days can mean 10–30% swings up or down. Our clients want to trade at the optimal moment; waiting for funds to clear is frustrating.

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Handling High‑Volume Payments and Bank Scrutiny (KYC/AML)

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Q: How do you handle larger payments? ‍

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Bare Bitcoin: Early on, users didn’t trust us with higher volumes. We addressed that by improving our design and showing we can handle bigger trades. It’s paid off: our largest single trade has been 5 million NOK. The second highest was 1 million NOK, and it was successful—we move volumes like this easily and near‑instantly.

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Q: Do banks ever block or delay crypto‑related payments? ‍

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Bare Bitcoin: Sometimes, yes. Our highest initiated payment via Neonomics was 1.5 million NOK and got delayed by the bank. Transactions to crypto platforms face greater KYC/AML scrutiny, so we anticipate that and communicate clearly with users when it happens.

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What Users Say: Instant Finality and Weekend Deposits

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Q: What feedback have you received about the payment experience? ‍

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Bare Bitcoin: Users love the near‑instant finality. Even if funds haven’t reached our bank account yet, we see that the correct person sent the money and that it’s on the way—so we can credit the account safely at initiation, enabling immediate trading. People appreciate being able to deposit on Saturdays and outside banking hours and still see that their money is arriving.

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Partnering with Neonomics: From Support to Product Improvements

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Q: What stood out about Neonomics for you? ‍

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Bare Bitcoin: When we reach out, we get an actual person who understands what we’re building and can solve problems. That hasn’t been our experience everywhere. For example, we’ve had card payment issues through Stripe—service was disrupted without warning, and it took 5–6 months to get it resolved. Neonomics took the time to understand our business model, licensing, and compliance from day one, and they were willing to engage proactively.

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Q: How does the collaboration work day‑to‑day? ‍

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Bare Bitcoin: We have a direct Slack channel with Neonomics for support and monitoring. It’s efficient and has improved our user experience. We share user feedback; they respond quickly and help us resolve issues. That collaboration has even shaped their Checkout product—a win for us and our users.

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Future Plans: Automation and Recurring Payments

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Q: What payment features would help you—and your customers—next? ‍

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Bare Bitcoin: Automated payouts would be huge. Right now, payouts are manual and take time; fully automating buying, selling, and receiving would create an incredible UX. We also want recurring payments inside the same seamless flow. Today, many customers set a plan in our app but need to configure a recurring bank transfer separately. The UI differs by bank, which creates support challenges—we see 30–40% of users forget or don’t complete the setup. Regular transfers can be disrupted, and we don’t always see the status to notify users or reactivate payments. Getting the same transparency, we have with same‑day open banking payments would significantly improve this functionality.

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Growth and Performance: Building for Scale

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Q: What results have you seen so far? ‍

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Bare Bitcoin: We’ve seen steady growth in both users and volume. October has been our best month so far—3x our previous best—thanks to intense Bitcoin activity. We’re optimistic that momentum continues into the new year.

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Vision: The Go‑To Place for Bitcoin in Norway

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Q: What’s next for Bare Bitcoin? ‍

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Bare Bitcoin: We want to be the natural go‑to place for Bitcoin in Norway—whether people are buying, selling, or spending Bitcoin. We already have a solid solution for sending Bitcoin to pay for things, and it’s been really cool to see that in action. We expect Bitcoin activity to pick up over the next couple of years, which will pressure‑test our systems. We’ve spent a lot of time battle‑hardening the platform, and we’re excited to see how it performs as activity grows.

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Q: Will you expand to other cryptocurrencies? ‍

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Bare Bitcoin: No—focusing on Bitcoin is our way of “tying ourselves to the mast.” It keeps us true to our mission: deliver an exceptional Bitcoin product with real value driven by deep Bitcoin expertise. Expanding into many cryptos would compromise the product and dilute our edge. We have our niche, and our ongoing partnership with Neonomics is an important part of making that niche best‑in‑class.

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Learn More

Want to dive deeper? Check out our case study with Bare Bitcoin and see how open banking payments power secure, near‑instant Bitcoin investing in Norway.

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