Today we were surprised when one of our users notified us he can no longer send funds to Cashila via Transferwise. After brief investigation it is now clear that Transferwise has decided to block deposits to our bank accounts. Fear not, we have prepared several alternatives.

Transferwise, a popular money transfer service which gained popularity promising cheaper money transfers, was often being used by our users to deposit funds to Cashila and ICONOMI. That’s why we were surprised to find out they have suddenly started blocking our bank accounts used for deposits. After entering one of our IBANs, the following message is displayed:

Transferwise did not notify us beforehand of their decision. We immediately tried to reach out and urge them to reconsider their stance. Unfortunately, their response was short and negative:

“We don’t support crypto currency platforms due to the regulations we follow.

Unfortunately there is not much more to say regarding the matter.”

Even though Cashila adheres to absolutely all pertinent legislation, their response seems expected in light of recent remarks the Transferwise CEO made regarding bitcoin: “Bitcoin, I think we can say, is dead. There is no traction, no one is using bitcoin. The bitcoin experiment, I think we can say, is over.”

Alternatives

For those of you who do not already know, we accept numerous different currencies, free of charge! The complete list with exchange rates can be found here. There are no additional charges when depositing non-EUR currencies, and the exchange rate used is the one published on the website of our bank, which you can check at any time. This applies to deposits from all over the world – you do not need to be sending the funds from a bank account within the SEPA.

If sending funds directly to us is not an option, there are several established Transferwise alternatives available. Companies such as currencyfair.com, azimo.com, covercy.com and others are all readily accesible, each with its advantages and unique features. With a quick Google search you can find even more services offering low fees and short transaction times. If you want lower fees and faster transaction times still, you’ll have to use bitcoin or ether 🙂