Blockchain-based payments startup Circle has launched no-cost international payment transactions for its customers in the US, UK and Europe.
With this launch, Circle customers in the US, UK and Europe will have the opportunity to send and receive money instantly across borders with no fee. They can also transact without any markup on foreign exchange rates.
“For the first time, sending money across borders is just like sending email or sharing photos: free and instant. It’s another step in our mission to tear down borders and barriers to sending money anywhere in the world,” Sean Neville and Jeremy Allaire, Circle co-founders, stated in the blog post. “No one will ever have to pay fees or foreign exchange markups on payments sent to or from the US, UK and more than a dozen European countries. Payments can now be sent between US dollars, British pound sterling or euros instantly and there are no fees at all and zero FX markup on exchange rates if sent using Circle.”
The move represents a disruption to the entire market of consumer cross-border payments. With this, the company has also announced a range of product updates that simplifies how customers can get started, share and use Circle with friends, make larger payments, and receive money faster.
With the recent updates, customers can receive payments into their bank accounts faster, can sign up and use Circle in seconds using a Facebook account, can easily send larger payments without significant delays, and so on. Also, customers on iOS can enable Touch ID for authorizing payments and transactions.
“Our focus today is on delighting consumers in the US, UK and Europe with an open, global social payments experience. We continue to build connections with other p2p payment apps using blockchain technologies that will enable these experiences all around the world and across all major currencies. This is a massive and multi-year project and something we have been committed to and working on since our inception,” they added.
