Brighty Review 2026: Pros, Cons, & Features

Brighty Overview

What is Brighty?

Brighty is basically what you’d get if a banking app and a crypto wallet had a baby.

It’s a money app that lets you use crypto and regular fiat money together – without having to constantly jump between platforms or transfer funds between accounts.

With Brighty you get a real, personal IBAN (personal bank account number) for fiat currencies like EUR, USD, and GBP, which means you can get paid and send bank transfers like normal.

You also get built-in wallets for crypto and stablecoins like $BTC, $ETH, $USDC, and $EURC – all in the same place.

What I think is most interesting about Brighty is that it’s not just for parking your funds.

It also lets you earn yield on your crypto, move money instantly, spend your crypto with debit cards, and send funds around the world using the same rails as traditional finance.

When switching between crypto and fiat, you don’t have to deal with locked funds, or wait days for withdrawals. You can swap straight between them and move them immediately, whether it's onchain or through the regular banking system.

It’s important to note that Brighty isn’t a bank in the legal sense – but for day-to-day money, it pretty much acts like one.

Brighty Key Features

• Crypto + fiat in one app: Hold and manage EUR, USD, GBP alongside major crypto assets like $BTC, $ETH, $USDC, and $EURC – all from the same dashboard.
• Named IBAN accounts: Get your own personal IBANs to send and receive fiat via SEPA, Faster Payments, SWIFT, FedWire, and ACH.
• Earning vaults: Earn yield on crypto and stablecoins like $USDC and $EURC using DeFi-only strategies, with no lockups and free withdrawals.
• Spend crypto like cash: Get virtual or physical debit cards that let you spend your crypto balance anywhere Visa or Mastercard is accepted.

Brighty Fees

When it comes to Brighty, you’ll want to consider fees on both the crypto and the fiat side of things, as well as swapping between them.

Incoming Money

Putting money into Brighty is mostly free.

SEPA and Faster Payments don’t cost anything, and crypto deposits are free across supported networks.

The only time you’ll pay is with SWIFT transfers, which come with a 0.7% fee (minimum €12).

Outgoing Money

Sending money out of Brighty isn’t free, but is simple and still fairly cheap.

SEPA and Faster Payments cost €3 per transaction on the free plan, or just €0.50 on Plus and Pro subscriptions.

SWIFT transfers are more expensive at 0.9% (minimum €30), and crypto withdrawals use small flat fees depending on the network – usually low, but typically higher for Bitcoin.

Currency Swaps

Brighty gives you a monthly free currency exchange allowance, which depends on your plan.

The free plan doesn’t include any free swaps, while Plus users get €2,000 in free swaps per month, and Pro users get €5,000 per month.

Once you go over that free amount, a small fee applies. That’s 0.6% on the free plan, 0.5% on Plus, and 0.4% on Pro.

Debit Cards

Brighty keeps card fees simple.

Virtual cards cost €2.99 to issue, with no monthly fees, and a 2% fee on foreign purchases. A flat 0.5% fee applies to all local uses and purchases.

Physical cards are available on Plus and Pro plans, and are free to issue. There’s a one-time delivery fee of €7.99–€14.99, no monthly fee, and the same 2% foreign transaction fee as virtual cards.

For ATM withdrawals, you can expect to pay around €3 within the EEA, with higher fees outside the EEA.

All of Brighty’s debit cards are compatible with Apple and Google Pay.

Brighty gives you a cashback on eligible card purchases (usually 0.5% or up to 1.75%), capped each month.

It’s added after the payment clears and unlocked the next month so you can use or withdraw it.

App Subscription Plans

Brighty runs on a freemium model.

That means you can use the app for free, but the paid plans are where things really open up.

Upgrading to Plus (€9 a month) or Pro (€18 a month) gets you better exchange and earning rates, higher limits, more virtual and physical Visa cards, and higher cashback on spending.

In short, the free plan is great for trying Brighty out – but Plus and Pro are built for people who actually plan to use it as their main money app.

For a complete breakdown of the most up to date fees and limits, check out this page on Brighty's official website.

Our Expert Review

In this first-hand review, I’m going to walk you through my first experience with the Brighty app, as I check out all of the main features.

Let’s get straight into it!

Setting Up An Account

Signing up with Brighty is fast.

You enter your email and phone number, then verify your identity. You’ll need a valid passport or national ID, plus a proof of address from the last three months.

Brighty is available across the EU and EEA, as well as Switzerland, Andorra, and Montenegro.

The whole process happens in-app. Most users are verified within minutes, and Brighty says about 90 percent complete onboarding in under two minutes.

If documents need manual review, however, it can take a few days.

Everything is encrypted and stored in the EU under GDPR standards.

Overall First Impressions

After actually using Brighty, the first thing that stood out was how intuitive it felt.

The home screen immediately shows your fiat and crypto balances, along with your Brighty debit card activity, so you’re never guessing where your money is.

I liked that everything I needed was one tap away – topping up with fiat or crypto, sending or swapping funds, and even a built-in QR code scanner.

The layout stays clean and uncluttered, which is a big win for a crypto app that could easily overwhelm you with numbers and buttons.

One feature I genuinely enjoyed was “Brighty Bites” at the top.

It’s basically like Instagram-style stories, but these stories are product news, updates, and tips.

It’s a small touch, but it made the app feel more alive and easier to stay up to date without hunting through menus.

Fiat Support & Named IBANs

Brighty isn’t a bank, but in day-to-day use it feels a lot like one – similar to something like Revolut.

You get personal IBANs for currencies like EUR, USD, and GBP, which means you can send and receive money just like a regular bank account.

From the app, you can get paid, receive salary or transfers, and move money via SEPA, Faster Payments, SWIFT, and FedWire, with fiat sitting right next to your crypto balances.

Everything feels neatly integrated instead of split across different platforms.

I personally couldn’t test sending and receiving fiat since I’m in an unsupported country, but even just seeing how it’s set up, it’s easy to tell this would be a killer feature.

Being able to manage both fiat and crypto in one app (without jumping through hoops!) is exactly what a lot of crypto people have been waiting for, for a loooong time.

Earning Vaults

The Earning Vaults are built for people who want their crypto to do something useful, without turning DeFi yield hunting into a full-time job.

You simply deposit assets like $USDC, $EURC, or $ETH into a Vault, and Brighty takes it from there – actively looking for yield across DeFi around the clock.

What I liked is how hands-off the whole thing feels.

There are no lockups, but interest rates aren’t fixed either – your returns move with the market.

It’s all DeFi-only, with no banks or centralized lenders. You know how much of a bonus that is, risk-wise, if you were around for the 2022 CeFi reckoning.

Using the Earning Vaults was super straightforward. Just a few taps to move funds into a Vault, and it starts earning right away.

It really does feel less like “doing DeFi” and more like using a crypto-native savings feature – just with better returns than a traditional account.

Brighty Debit Cards

Brighty cards are designed to make crypto spending feel just like using a regular debit card.

You can pay for stuff with your crypto balance online, in-store, or withdraw cash, all managed directly in the app.

All users get access to virtual Visa cards that work anywhere Visa is accepted (including Apple Pay). They’re issued instantly, with no monthly fees, and higher plans unlock more cards and higher spending limits.

If you’re a Plus or Pro user, you can also order a physical Visa card for everyday spending and ATM withdrawals.

There’s cashback built in – free users earn 0.5%, while paid plans unlock higher rates up to 1.75%, capped monthly by plan.

And the nice bonus: your $USDC card balance can earn interest, meaning your spending money doesn’t have to sit around doing nothing.

Customer Support

Support is available both on the Brighty website and the mobile app.

As with most platforms, this begins with a self-help FAQ section, providing a library of help articles and tutorials.

You’ll be able to find most of the answers to your questions here – and it sure helped me get a lot of answers nice and easily while trying out the app.

There’s also a chat box for personalized help, if you have a more specific question:

I asked a question about how the IBANs work on the platform, and received a helpful reply within about 5 hours.

Who’s Brighty For?

• People who use both cash and crypto: Perfect if your money is split between a bank account and crypto apps. It pulls everything into one place so you’re not constantly hopping between platforms just to check balances or pay for stuff.
• People who want crypto to earn quietly: Anyone who likes the idea of earning on crypto, but doesn’t want to babysit DeFi. Your funds earn in the background, stay liquid, and are easy to move whenever you need them.
• People in Europe who move money internationally: If you’re based in the EU or EEA (plus Switzerland, Andorra, or Montenegro) and often send or receive money internationally, Brighty gives you a cleaner, faster alternative to banks.

Who’s Brighty Not For?

• People outside Europe: If you’re in the US, Asia, or Latin America and need strong local banking support, Brighty probably isn’t the right tool. It’s very Europe-first, and coverage elsewhere is limited.
• People who want a traditional, fully insured bank: If you want a fully licensed bank with deposit insurance and traditional safety nets, Brighty won’t tick every box. It allows fiat and crypto both, covering lots of banking app functions that people are used to, but legally, it’s not a bank.
• People who want deep fiat features only: If crypto isn’t your thing and you’re only after a simple checking account, loans, or credit products, a traditional bank or standard neobank will probably make more sense.

Brighty Alternatives

Wirex vs. Brighty

Wirex and Brighty both let you spend crypto like normal money, but they take pretty different paths to get there.

Wirex is built for scale – that means lots of countries and lots of currencies. Their cashback and rates are great, but only if you’re willing to stake their token.

Brighty, on the other hand, feels like a crypto-native banking app made for Europe. It’s clean, simple, and more pleasant to use day to day.

Nexo vs. Brighty

Nexo is built around earning high interest and borrowing against your crypto.

On the other hand, Brighty is built around everyday money, mixing fiat banking and crypto in one clean app.

Nexo makes sense if yield and loans are your priority, but Brighty makes more sense if you want something that could actually replace day-to-day banking.

Crypto.com vs. Brighty

Crypto.com isn’t a niche product – a full-blown crypto ecosystem with trading, staking, rewards, and cards

it does a lot, and it does it globally, but it could be a bit overwhelming for new users.

Brighty strips that all back and focuses on one thing: making crypto feel like normal money, especially if you’re in Europe.

Crypto.com has the edge if you want endless features and deep crypto options, but Brighty is clear, simple, and gives you fewer tabs to think about.

Is Brighty Safe to Use?

Who Has Invested in Brighty?

Brighty was founded in 2020 by Nikolay Denisenko.

The company has raised $16.2 million so far, including a $10 million round in late 2024 led by Futurecraft Ventures, as it builds out its crypto-meets-banking platform.

Brighty Security

Brighty doesn’t mess around when it comes to security.

Crypto assets are stored with Fireblocks, the same institutional-grade custody tech used by a lot of big players in the industry including Circle, MoonPay, and more.

Transactions are also monitored in real time using know-your-transaction (KYT) systems to spot anything sketchy.

On top of that, Brighty publishes proof-of-reserves, so users can verify funds are actually there – not quietly reused behind the scenes.

Brighty Regulation

Brighty is a registered crypto provider in the EU, and its fiat payment services run through licensed financial institutions.

What does that mean? it’s not a traditional bank, but it’s operating inside real regulated guardrails – not playing in the crypto wild west.

Final Thoughts On Brighty

Brighty does a really good job of closing the gap between crypto and everyday money.

After using it, it genuinely feels less like a “crypto app” and more like a modern money app that just happens to have crypto baked in from the start.

The combination of real IBANs, debit cards, and earning vaults makes it far more practical than most crypto wallets.

That being said, it’s not perfect – at least not yet.

Its availability is Europe-focused, fiat options are still limited, and the best features sit behind a paid plan.

But if you’re in Europe and already living with one foot in crypto and the other in traditional finance, Brighty makes that overlap feel refreshingly smooth.

It isn’t trying to replace your bank, but it does a great job of combining a regular banking app and crypto wallet into one – while making it super smooth to switch between those worlds.

Brighty Frequently Asked Questions