HACKER Q&A
📣 adamfaliq

I want to build a digital bank startup. How do I start?


Hi HN,

I just graduated last June and has been working on this idea since last year. I have made some research on the topic and could not find anything substantial on building a digital banking startup. Currently, there is a huge opportunity where I live and there are only one or two digital bank startups that are already in the market.

Assuming I have enough capital and already has the license from the local central bank, how do I go about building the MVP? The MVP that I have in mind is a simple mobile app where users can:

- Transfer and receive money - Pay bills

I know this is a difficult endeavour and many will be sceptical, but 2020 has been a difficult year for me. At the moment, I have nothing to lose and I would rather work on this idea and fail rather than not trying at all. Thank you so much!

  👤 WildGreenLeave Accepted Answer ✓
There is a startup in The Netherlands that did exactly this, they are called 'Bunq'[0]. A while back a book has been published how they did this, it is, sadly enough, in Dutch[1]. One of the things that comes clear thanks to the book is that Bunq never wanted to use an additional banking API like another user here said. They wanted their own banking license and not use any kind of gateway via one of the 'old' dinosaur banks.

0: https://www.bunq.com/ 1: https://www.bol.com/nl/f/breken-met-banken/9200000057850318/

👤 OJFord
> Assuming I have enough capital and already has the license from the local central bank,

Do you though? That's the hard part, not:

> how do I go about building the MVP? The MVP that I have in mind is a simple mobile app where users can: - Transfer and receive money - Pay bills

👤 quattrofan
Look up Railsbank for their API if you are in the UK.