How cross border payments work

The exchange rate and the fees are both shown before you confirm.

Cross border payments sound more complicated than the thing they describe. They mean moving value from one country to another so the person at the other end gets paid in their own currency. Most people have made one. Almost nobody has called it that.

Two things have to happen. Value has to travel between the two countries, and somebody at the far end has to physically hand over local currency. Those are separate jobs, and they are rarely the same business. Zeroa handles the first and works with a licensed partner for the payout.

For the person receiving, that means no account, no app, nothing to sign up for. They are paid in local currency and collect with a mobile number and an identity document. Available destinations are shown in your wallet, because that list changes as partners are added.

Then the part everyone actually cares about, which is what it costs. Two numbers decide what lands: the exchange rate applied to the conversion, and the fees charged along the way. Both are on screen before you confirm rather than after, which is the only point at which knowing them is any use to you. One honest quirk — cash payouts are rounded to the notes available at the collection point, so the amount handed over can differ slightly from the amount quoted. Nobody is keeping small change behind the counter for this.

For more information on cross-border payment solutions and crypto assets, contact Zeroa.

Chembridge Capital (Pty) Ltd t/a Zeroa, registration number 2014/064942/07. Investing in crypto assets may result in a loss of capital.