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My first blog post, in which I try to cover:
1 | Ziglu's origins
2 | My experience in using the app as a relative crypto newbie
3 | Who, I believe, this app is for.
4 | My keekTAKE™ - A quick read for those pressed for time.
Part 1 of this review covers the app and first forays into investing, after trying my hand on Coinbase. Part 2 will cover the use of the debit card itself.
1 | Ziglu: Origins
If you're a Starling Bank user, you might feel it is one of the more successful fintech challenger banks to establish a foothold in the UK banking space. Whilst its competitors, Revolut and Monzo, sold themselves on cool credentials, exciting feature differentiators and active communities, Starling's approach was a bit more, well, boring. They closed their community forum, have no tiered subscription options or associated perks and a fewer integrations with third parties.
What they do have, however, was being first to receive a full banking license (FSCS protection of your funds up to a certain amount) and and a more considered set of features, that actually remained set. In a nutshell, a slow but solid roll out of features helping people feel comfortable with leaving their physical Bank branches.
Starling CEO and founder, Anne Boden, has some interesting thoughts on how society will deal with money in the future. Those Starling customers excited about cryptocurrency, however, may be bit disappointed by her views on Crypto and crypto exchanges, as expressed as early as January 2021.
It is likely, then, that part of Mark Hipperson's (Starling's CTO up until 2016) "disagreement on the way forward" may have had something to do with Ms Boden's apprehension to enter the crypto space. Enter Ziglu!
The Starling pedigree arguably gives Mark Hipperson's name some credence to this fintech startup. His name is dropped in marketing material of the Seedrs funding campaign and he puts his face out there to champion his product. The company is properly registered and FCA regulated as an EMI (E-money Institution; learned something new) for the FIAT held and moved, but not protected by the FSCS. The cryptos on offer at the time were ones I was interested in (BTC, BCH, ETH, LTC, ADA, XTZ and most recently, LINK) and the fees (1.25% on almost all transactions, free for some) seemed very competitive, compared to the starter platform I had been using (Coinbase, as with many others). They also offer a feature called Bitcoin Boost (5% effective APY on a BTC balance, paid every Saturday), which seemed like an interesting first step into passive income.
It checked enough boxes for me to feel relatively safe in downloading the app and throwing some money their way. Note that this is my personal view at this stage of my due diligence ability, which I'm still honing, and not financial advice.
2 | The Ziglu App
(*)not my initials
It's clear that some of Starling's fundamental philosophies has carried over with Mark. After a very painless KYC process that was completed within minutes (milage may vary), I was in my Home screen with a balance summary of ?0.00 . No overload of information or overbearing messages. I could switch views to look at :-
- Activity | A historical breakdown of my transactions. No export feature that I can see.
- Market | Crypto % price changes in the past 24 hours. No charts or historical data and sparse info on the history and use case for individual cryptos.
- Card | For ordering a debit card to spend gains (hopefully)
- Account settings | which are tucked away under those initials* at the top.
This app does not want to intimidate Crypto newcomers with too many decisions. Deciding what to invest in is hard enough and there are enough breadcrumbs here to hopefully entice customers into realising real world applications and doing some research, albeit, without actually being able to participate in those directly through this app.
Instead, it focuses on functionality for you to get some skin in the crypto game. This starts with putting some money into the account you just created.
(i) Add Money
The only option you'll get here is to view your account number and sort code details to enter into your FIAT bank account and transfer money from. It would appear that Ziglu uses the Faster Payments for transfers. As long as your bank does too, it appears transfers complete near instantaneously. This is perfect, if you are as disorganised at keeping a balance for any dips in the market.
(ii) Exchanges & Fees
If it wasn't clear before, a warning about crypto currency investment gate-keeps you from entering a simple interface, that allows you to select your target investment.
Arguably, this is the heart of the app and the place where you'll agonise over your crypto investing decisions. Exchange occurs, again, in an instant. There are no limit orders to be queued or fulfilled. Just a promise that prices are competitive. Your writer was unable to figure out which exchange Ziglu uses and this article may be updated with a comparison. As for investing decisions go, I won't cover those considerations, save for a few of the services selling points.
- ?1.00 minimum transaction -- this provides a low entry barrier for those just getting their feet wet. The updating price and preview makes it clear that you use a fractional investment as an entry point. A higher minimum transaction wall may be immediately off putting for some, but this eases you into the crypto world, without shattering any commitments for drinks owed or netflix subscription coming due. It's comparable competitor would be ?2.00
- Bitcoin Boost -- This appears to be a compound interest on the BTC balance, specifically placed in this account area, which should work out to about 5% APY. How the mathemagicians work this out, based on the value at every second of the day is a bit beyond my excel skills, but for now, this passive income on my balance is earning me a few pence every day.
- Low Fees -- Coming from the likes of Coinbase, even for small investments, the difference is night and day. Below are two ADA purchases, one day apart, both for ?25.00 total (including fees) and using cash balance on both COINBASE and Ziglu accounts.
Coinbase fee : ?1.49 !!!
Ziglu fee : ?0.31 !!!
One other thing to consider is that, at the time of writing, your options to exchange between different Cryptos is limited to BTC, along with a 1.25% charge. This means that if you want to swap your ADA to ETH, you may need to change ADA to GBP or BTC first, and then swapping that to ETH, incurring a 1.25% at each change. If you fancy yourself as someone who wants to constantly buy dips and ride waves of different cryptos, you may need to consider how this affects your gains. This does not seem to apply, for instance, if you move your BTC to your BTC boost space.
(iii) Sending Money
Your options here are limited to sending your money GBP balance to a UK bank account via Faster Payments, or cryptos to Ziglu friends. Sending back my test GBP balance was, again, an instantaneous affair. I don't have any friends, so couldn't test that feature, but it is apparently also instantaneous and free.
Veterans might look at that negative space and wonder if they will add more options. Currently, no methods exist to transfer you cryptos to a wallet under your won control and it's not clear if they are planning on this in the future. They certainly left enough space to add options.
3 | Who is this for?
As a small investor, I found this to be a more accessible gateway into the crypto space than my experience with Coinbase. In truth, most people will flock to crypto due to social network and media coverage on the crazy profits people are making. Ziglu holds your hand and tries to make entering a position in crypto as straightforward and smooth as possible.
Its growing, curated crypto choices avoids volatile altcoins and notification on price fluctuation may prompt users to take action, encouraging them to look into buying dips, rather than panic selling (e.g. "ETH has dropped 10%, time to buy?"). Getting out of the game is as important as getting into it, and Ziglu's full potential thus lies in quickly executing exchanges and making speculative gains, locking them in when beneficial. This, however, requires more conscious dealings than a typical banking account asks for. After all, you can only spend your GBP balance. Ziglu doesn't hold your hand in that front, other than offering cryptos with least potential for crashing badly in the long run. No SHIBs here!
The final piece of convenience comes with the accompanying Debit Card, which your writer has ordered and will test in an upcoming review for a full picture.
With all that said, this is by no means an automatic magic money making app. As with any type of investment, Patience and sound research into market dynamics is indeed required for anyone to have a chance at making gains. Ziglu by itself does not offer you with means of researching your investment fully.
Day traders will want to look for a more comprehensive set of tools. DeFi (Decentralised Finance) purists, with a deeper appreciation of the potential application for crypto may also want look elsewhere, as the closed and centralised nature of Ziglu means they cannot unlock other purposes of their purchases.
As with Starling's slow and steady approach to platform featrues, I won't dismiss Ziglu based on their relative bare offering just yet. Once they've built momentum and customer awareness has increased, we may see some interesting changes. As of writing, I see Ziglu sitting somewhere between my current bank account and main investments hustles; As banking app, it does not replace enough of my day to day finance needs, nor does it fit my developing needs going deeper into crypto. Ironically, I see Ziglu integrated with Starling or a Starling marketplace partner. The Faster Payments system, though, makes moving money almost seamless, save for the switching between apps.
If I find myself with a bit of money at the end of the month even after my investment and commitments have been accounted for, I might throw some money here and let my FCA protected GBP build over time. When the time is right, I'll convert those to (unprotected) positions for fun. The exchanges back to GBP occur instantly, so there appears to be no liquidation concerns for the small amounts I deal with. As such, I don't expect life changing gains, but if I can afford a bonus bubble tea one week, why not?
4 | The keekTAKE™ !
Ziglu originated from the some of the same minds behind the successful Starling Bank. UK crypto newbies or side hustlers who want hassle free on-boarding into the crypto investment space will find Ziglu's KYC process, curated coin options, passive income opportunities and low fees un-intimidating.
That said, it is currently a closed and centralised system, meaning you won't be able to transfer your cryptos out of this exchange for safe keeping elsewhere or use it for any other crypto functions.
As a tool for low stakes investment and speculation whilst getting a feel for crypto trends, this is a good option to complement your crypto-less bank account, but won't replace it. DeFi purists, wallet owners or more experienced investors may want to look elsewhere.
For how useful it is as a day to day payment app, find out in part 2 of my review.
| Support keekREADS |
I am testing the waters with my first blog post. If you liked this content and are interested in opening a Ziglu account, please consider using my referral link for a sign up bonus of ?5.00, when you invest at least ?1.00 in a crypto currency through the app. I will also receive ?5.00 from, which would be super encouraging.
keekREADS' Ziglu referral
Disclosure
Again, the link above is a referral. Your writer may bank with fintech banks, but does not hold any positions in Starling, Monzo or Revolut. He does dabble on Ziglu, though, for bubble tea money gains. All other embedded links lead to resources and source of information.
