Crypto AM Reshines the Spotlight on Wirex Lazarichev & Pavel Mateev

Wirex, the leading payments platform bridging the gap between the traditional and digital economies, has come on leaps and bounds since Crypto AM last shined the light on us in 2018.

Since its inception in 2014, our CEO and co-founders, Pavel Matveev and Dmitry Lazarichev, have always had the goal of making digital money more accessible for everyone, but it could be argued that it’s recent product  developments that have truly made this a reality. With our inaugural crowdfunding campaign launching today, we’ve got ambitious plans for the coming months that these funds will only accelerate.

Wirex’s inaugural Crowdfunding Campaign

Today, the 28th September, is a pivotal moment in Wirex’s history, as we launch our first crowdfunding campaign. With the goal of raising £1 million, we’ve decided to launch the campaign at a crucial point in our development, with great plans already in the pipeline that these funds will help to make a reality even sooner. Most importantly, we want to give our loyal Wirex customers and fintech fans alike to share in our successes as we take the next step in our growth and scale-up, giving them the opportunity to own a piece of Wirex. 

We’ve already had an overwhelmingly positive response to the crowdfunding since we made the announcement and launched pre-registration for those that want exclusive early access to invest, before opening it up to the public later in the day. With more than an incredible 25,000 people having pre-registered, we’ve got high expectations for the success and can’t wait to watch its development.

Who is Wirex?

Wirex is the ultimate payments platform bringing cryptocurrency to the mainstream, by giving users the ability to buy, hold, exchange and spend up to 19 crypto and traditional currencies from one centralised app. We were the first company in the world to develop a contactless crypto-enabled debit card, which allows customers to spend their currencies at over 54 million locations around the world. Not only this, but we were also the first company to launch a cryptocurrency rewards system, Cryptoback™, giving users up to 1.5% rewards back in Bitcoin for every purchase they make in-store.

To continue incorporating the next-generation of payments infrastructure with blockchain technology, and stay on-top-of an increasingly competitive landscape, Wirex has significantly grown it’s workforce to create a world-class team. Headquartered in London, we have over 200 people across offices in Kyiv, Singapore, Tokyo, Toronto, Dallas, Dublin and Atlanta. We’re on a mission to make cryptocurrency accessible to everyone, by creating a product that empowers everyone to have access to the digital economy, by providing a low-cost, efficient and secure transactional environment for individuals.

A successful 18 months

Wirex is at the forefront of a rapidly developing industry, with cryptocurrency adoption rates having sky-rocketed in recent years. Incredibly, this trend has only grown since the onset of COVID-19, as the pandemic demonstrated real-use cases for cryptocurrency in everyday life, as well as the need for a cashless society and alternative forms of investment. This was reflected in Wirex’s performance during the COVID period, and we’re proud to have reached many milestones, despite the economic downturn that hit most businesses.

Our unique and flexible business model allowed us to adapt to this demand and flourish, breaking records in a period of considerable uncertainty for many businesses. Wirex experienced a 100% increase in the volume of cryptocurrency transactions on the platform in March compared to February, as well as the highest volume of transactions in a single day in the APAC region.

Only last year, we announced that we are profitable, rare for a company as young as ours, and we describe ourselves as a hedgehog fintech, where our journey to becoming a tech unicorn is built on managing and monetising growth sensibly. Having processed over $3 billion worth of transactions, only a few months ago, we surpassed 3 million customers on our platform, namely down to our rapid global expansion into new territories. Much of this can be attributed to a successful move into the APAC market last year, as well as the development and release of our own native token – WXT. 

Others in the field have begun to recognise Wirex’s potential as well, having recently won the acclaimed Innovate Finance Pitch 360 challenge for 2020, as well as second place in the Customer Experience Asia Excellence Award for ‘Best Use of Mobile’.

One of our biggest achievements to date came in July, when we were announced as Mastercard’s first crypto-native principal member. This marked a huge milestone for us by showing the gradual shift of the industries’ attitude towards crypto, and growing acceptance that digital currency could be the future of the economy.

Onto bigger frontiers

Wirex has a lot of exciting projects under development already, with which the money raised from our crowdfunding will help achieve. With a rapidly growing user base, our next goal is to reach 10 million customers by the end of next year. We have ambitious plans for global expansion as we continue to seek out licenses in new territories, with launches in the US and Japan coming up in the next few months, which we have already had an overwhelming demand for.

We also recently announced a revolutionary product overhaul, which will involve a series of product upgrades over the coming months. Thanks to a partnership with Mastercard, as well as payment solution company LHV, this includes a recent launch of 5 new currencies on our platform, and an upcoming release of a new multicurrency Mastercard card in the EEA region. This will offer next-generation features such as free international ATM withdrawals, higher limits and next-to-no fees, and is sure to give Wirex a significant advantage over its competitors. Later this year, we’ll reward our loyal customers even further, by rolling out an upgraded rewards programme, including up to 2% Cryptoback™ in-store and online, as well as an impressive 6% annual interest on users WXT balance.

Despite only being 6 years old, it’s clear that Wirex has gone through an incredible number of changes and developments. With a rapidly growing number of people recognising the benefits of the Wirex platform, we’re excited to see what remarkable steps we make in the future to ensure we continue to transform the way people think about money.

The public sale for Wirex’s first crowdfunding campaign is live from 12pm (BST) on the 28th September, and you can invest on the Crowdcube website.

Want to hear more about Wirex and our crowdfund? Here’s what you need to know, from the Wirex team!