Austrian Bitcoin platform 21bitcoin has begun paying 1.21% annual interest on customers' uninvested euro balances, effective October 1, 2026 — and users can opt to collect the payout in Bitcoin, with no conversion fee.

The company said it is the first provider in Europe to pay savings interest directly in Bitcoin. For users who opt to be paid in Bitcoin, the feature turns idle cash into incremental bitcoin accumulation without a separate purchase or conversion step.

The interest covers every euro in the account, including cash waiting for the next savings-plan purchase or reserved for an open limit order, according to the company. There is no minimum deposit and no lock-up.

21bitcoin announced the feature, which it brands the Bitcoin Bonus, in a post on X on October 1:

21bitcoin präsentiert den Bitcoin Bonus Ab sofort erhältst du auf Euro-Guthaben variable Zinsen von 1,21% p.a.* Und das Beste: Wir tauschen sie auf Wunsch direkt & ohne zusätzliche Gebühren in Bitcoin um. Aktiviere Zinsen jetzt direkt auf dem Startbildschirm in deiner… pic.twitter.com/nTVOfSZnuk
— 21bitcoin & (@21bitcoinApp) October 1, 2026

Users can activate the interest feature directly from the app's start screen.

"Building wealth with Bitcoin does not begin with the purchase itself, but with the euros set aside for it," said co-founder and CEO Daniel Winklhammer.

The interest is paid by Volksbank Raiffeisenbank Bayern Mitte eG, a German bank that has owned a stake in 21bitcoin since 2023. Customer euros sit in a segregated trust account at the bank as instant-access savings. 21bitcoin says it passes the interest on in full and keeps no margin. The arrangement routes the yield through a regulated, deposit-taking bank rather than through a lending book that redeploys customer funds.

The company is pitching the offering as a deliberate contrast to the high-yield promises that brought down several crypto lenders, among them Celsius Network and BlockFi, both of which collapsed in 2022 after offering high yields on customer assets. The rate is variable, meaning it can change over time, and interest is subject to German withholding tax.

The launch follows 21bitcoin's zero-fee Bitcoin savings plan, introduced earlier this year. Last year, the company teamed up with VR Bank Bayern Mitte eG and Sopra Financial Technology GmbH to launch a pioneering European pilot project aimed at developing an institutional-grade Bitcoin-backed credit product. Bitcoin-backed loans, insured cold storage, and multisig inheritance custody are slated for 2027. Taken together, the recent launches trace a company broadening from buy-and-hold accumulation toward banking-style services around Bitcoin.

Founded in 2021, 21bitcoin holds a MiCAR licence in Austria, issued under the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, the bloc's common framework for crypto-asset service providers, and is authorized by Germany's BaFin, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority. It reports more than 100,000 users and over €650 million in trading volume.

This article first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and was written by Mathew Di Salvo.