Everyone wanted to save here.

Remembering Xinja only for its interest rate would be unfair. The team kept trying new things in banking, and it shipped a good number of them.

A card that glows in the dark. Wilson first thought it was a gimmick. The idea came from women customers who kept grabbing the wrong card from a dark bag at night. Shipped.⁷

A box that sticks its tongue out. The debit card arrives sticking out of a Xinja character's mouth, with stickers, coasters and sticky notes for setting savings goals. Shipped.¹²

Xinja.Me. You share a link and a friend tops up your card instantly; splitting a bill works from the same place. Shipped.¹³

No credit cards. Banks only make money on them, Wilson said, when customers make poor decisions. Promise kept: Xinja never issued one.¹¹

A home loan rate made for you. A rate worked out from your own data instead of one rate for everyone, and loyal customers would never end up paying more. Stayed on paper, because lending never opened.¹⁵

A marketplace inside the app. Other companies' products were going to be sold through Xinja. Also stayed on paper.¹⁴

APRA grants Xinja a full banking licence, without restrictions. The same day, everyday accounts open for the first customers.^10,11

28,000 people have signed up, 12,000 prepaid cards are out and there are around 65 permanent staff. The plan is on the record: a savings account called Stash first, lending in the first quarter of 2020.¹¹

Stash goes live. 2.25 percent on every dollar up to 245,000. No conditions, no intro period, no minimum. The big banks are cutting their rates at the same time.¹⁷

30 million dollars arrive in seven days, 100 million in 19. In Wilson's own words, the plan was about 120 million for the whole year.^18,19

More than half the money comes from the big four banks. The average Stash holds 11,500 dollars.¹⁷

On 3 March 2020 the Reserve Bank cuts the cash rate to 0.50 percent. Two days later Xinja keeps Stash at 2.25 for existing customers and stops opening new Stash accounts.^21,22

Wilson explains it on the blog with the pandemic's empty shelves: just as the supermarkets ran out of toilet paper, Xinja has run out of Stash accounts. No new accounts, no new cost. On 19 March the rate drops to 0.25 percent.^21,23

On 24 March comes the big news: Dubai's World Investments will invest 433 million dollars over two years, 160 million of it right away once approvals arrive. Lending will open within the year.²⁰

On 11 May Stash drops to 1.8 percent. Xinja tells customers it was probably the only bank still paying 2.25 after two cuts, but a variable rate can't hold that forever.²⁴

By May there are more than 47,000 accounts and over 500 million in deposits. Still no lending.²⁵

On 21 July a new product is announced: Dabble. US shares inside the app, 8 dollars a month for unlimited trades, slices of a share from 1 dollar. It is due at the end of August. In September it is ready and waiting for APRA to sign off.^26,27

The accounts for the year to June are out. 55 million was raised that year, yet the loss is 36 million dollars, leaving about 25 million in net assets. The auditor, PwC, writes that Xinja is highly dependent on new capital and that there is material uncertainty about whether it can continue.^28,29

Wilson says the Dubai investor was hit hard by COVID and its checks were delayed; four Xinja staff are in Dubai working on it. Lending is now live in production, with staff testing it.²⁸

On 23 November the interest cap on Stash drops from 150,000 to 50,000 dollars, and the rate is already 1.5 percent. The money from Dubai never arrives before the end.^30,32

Wednesday morning. Xinja announces it will close the bank account, Stash and every service around them, and hand back its licence. In its own words, it is effectively stopping being a bank.³³

The reason given: a year marked by COVID and an ever harder environment for raising capital. Wilson thanks customers for opening an account in the first place and says he is gutted not to carry on.^33,25

The dates are clear. Stash stopped earning interest on 14 December and closes on 23 December. Empty accounts close from 30 December, and the cards stop on 15 January.³³

Xinja stopped being a bank, and three things were left.

1. 1The money went home.Five weeks after the announcement almost every dollar was back with its owner; the rest waits at NAB.
2. 2The company stayed, the bank didn't.Xinja said it would carry on as a fintech and focus on Dabble.
3. 3The crowd owners.More than 2,700 people bought shares in the two crowdfunding rounds. Their shares now sit in a company that is no longer a bank.