General Information & Regulation of CurrencyFair
Founded in 2009, CurrencyFair is an online peer-to-peer (Peer to peer) currency exchange marketplace headquartered in Ireland with offices in the UK, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia, Greece, Poland, and Singapore, offering international transfers in 22 global currencies. In early 2014, CurrencyFair became the world's first platform to break the $1 billion (€916 million) barrier for currency matching transfers, and in April 2017, CurrencyFair revamped its platform to enable small and medium-sized businesses to use the service. In July 2018, CurrencyFair announced that its transaction volume had exceeded €7 billion, and in December 2019, the company entered into a partnership agreement with Buy-World, a Chinese online trade network, to launch its marketplace payment product. CurrencyFair is currently regulated by ASIC in Australia and holds its full license under its authorization and license, regulatory number 402709.
Operation Methods of CurrencyFair
CurrencyFair operates through a P2P platform, which may result in cost savings on international transfers compared to banks. With CurrencyFair, as long as another user matches or accepts the exchange rate on that side of the market, then the user can choose their own exchange rate in their peer-to-peer marketplace. If they don't want to wait for another user, then they can initiate a transfer, and the entire exchange rate is usually matched to the interbank or middle-market rate.
Transfer Methods of CurrencyFair
CurrencyFair offers two types of transfers: Money transfers and top-ups. If you want to send money as soon as possible, click on “Send Money,” and this option will transfer the funds from your bank account to your CurrencyFair account, which will automatically convert and transfer the money once it is received. The top-up option allows users to deposit funds in their CurrencyFair account for an exchange.
Fees & Costs of CurrencyFair
CurrencyFair does not charge any fees to transfer funds from a user's bank to CurrencyFair. However, if the user chooses Express Debit, then a fee will apply. If a user chooses to make a peer-to-peer transfer through the marketplace, CurrencyFair charges 0.25% - 0.3% of the total transaction amount when another customer makes a match. If the user does not wish to wait, CurrencyFair will use their funds to make the transfer and charge a fee of 0.4% - 0.6%. Another potential cost is that CurrencyFair may charge more where there is no local bank account, such as where the user transfers less than a few thousand.
Transfer Speed of CurrencyFair
Transfer speed is largely dependent on location and currency, and its overall transfer speed is the sum of the time it takes to reach a CurrencyFair account (1-2 business days, use faster payments or CHAPS in the UK), processing and matching time (may vary) and time to reach the recipient's account (1-2 business days).
Summary
The main disadvantages of CurrencyFair are:
1. Inability to register in the United States (but the ability to send money to the United States)
2. Limited number of currencies supported
3. Only transfers to bank accounts (no support for mobile wallets)
4. Delayed customer service
