Roger’s Theory - Bitwala

A central model in the “Diffusion of Innovations” is Roger’s Innovation Theory (Rogers, E. 1962). In this model their are five stadia explained:

1. Innovators People who want to be the first to use a product;

2. Early adopters People who are interested in new products. This phase comes with an exponentional growth of sales;

3. Early Majority First large group of people who will buy the product. Product is picked up by the masses and becomes mature;

4. Late Majority The product became mature and a large part of the market knows the product. Sales will decrease during this period;

5. Laggars Last phase of the product. The product is about to fade out of the market. Last sales would be with a discount.

Different terms for above phases are: Introduction, Growth, Maturity, Saturation, and Decline.

Furthermore, Roger applies five more terms in his theory. Which are: 1. Relative advantage 2. Compatibility 3. Complexitiy 4. Observability 5. Trialability

These phases and therms will be applied to Bitwala’s Innovation.

Bitwala confirms that they have users in every country which is associated with the European Union. It is not clear how many users they have and they will not clear this up, at any point (Baltrustsaitas, 2020).

So, It can not be said in which phase Bitwala is, based on the amount of users. Stating that the key product of Bitwala is the ability to withdraw cash from actual ATM’s all over the world. The company exists for quite a while. But the withdrawal of crypto as cash is pretty new, since the product has been launched in August 2019. Still, they seem to have quite some users, which could mean that the product is in the early adopters stage. Here’s why:

They have a vast user base which is located troughout all of Europe and the ability to pin cash with crypto in over 30 million ATM’s, which means their product is also widely available. As they are still finding ways to make their product more innovative ein this relative new market, means that the product isn’t close to saturating. They still believe they can be a substitute for traditional banking. If they would be a real competitor based on facts and figures, the product would be more around the late majority phase.

The Bitwala Bitcoin Banking was also announced in August of 2019. So, the product is quite new, obviously. Also, the technology and service Bitwala provides, is new and disruptive. So, the early adapters might feel special. They have knowledge and access to something that is new and an alternative to traditional banking. The abilitity to ‘withdraw’ your bitcoin for a flat fee is something that is very attractive to people who are interested in cryptobanking. Bitwala makes it very easy to become a client with their easy to use mobile app. The user experience makes the treshhold very low for new users or more specific, early adopters.

The innovation is also pretty compatable with the core values of Bitwala. Which are: Live the revolution, not another bank, adapt, mind your karma, the best idea wins and aim for the moon.

This means that the company is very innovative and always going for personal and corporate development. They believe that what they are doing is definitely going to disrupt the traditional banking marketing. They are very compliant with their own product! The ability withdraw actual cash from your crypto wallet at 30 million atm’s, ads aditional value to the company and it perfectly fits its values. The product adds value to the company on personal and corporate levels. There is definitely a relative advantage.

On the naked eye, the product doesn’t seem to be complex at all. You can sign up for a free account in just minutes via the website or their mobile app. You get a debet card to withdraw cash at ATM’s. Every aspect of the product seems easy to use and understandable. The product doesn’t look complex at all. In fact, with just a one minute scroll on Bitwala’s homepage, you know what they do and how you sign up for their services. It doesn’t look complex at all.

As Bitwala has users from every country that is associated with the European Union, the product seems to work fine and their aren’t many issues. This is probably because the product isn’t complex at all. Risks isn’t forming a barrier, as the consumer decides the amount of risks he takes.

The product isn’t very visible in it’s own way. The debet card looks like a traditional one. But, the decentralising finance marketing, Bitwala is operating in, is a market that is open for discussion and learning trajectories. So, the innovation is pretty visible. Based on the six terms Roger applies for an innovative product, it’s very innovative. It’s new, easy to use, visible and it compliments the core values of Bitwala.

The product has been launched in August of 2019, this means its relatively new. the decentralizing finance market is also quite new. Based on the research, the product is in the early adopters stage. Bitwala is groing company, which just made their service easy to use for the masses. The company’s anual estimated revenue is $3 million, which means they are already raising loads of money with their product. But it hasn’t been picked up by the masses. The product has a huge potentional, since cryptocurrencies are available worldwide. This is reach Bitwala can be able to use. Since they are very complient with their company values and the product is innovative. So, there is also no need to speed up the process of the innovation. Judging by the annual revenue, the adoption process is going pretty well.