Blockchain Startup Circle Launches Fee-Free Cross Border Payments

Blockchain payments startup Circle is now offering no-cost cross-border transactions to its users, the firm said today.

Customers based in the US, much of Europe and the UK won't have to pay fees or mark-ups on foreign currency exchanges as part of the roll-out of the startup's service upgrade. The firm also said it is now offering "instant" transactions for users that send funds between those countries.

"Consumers will not have to pay fees or foreign exchange mark-ups on payments sent to or from the US, UK and more than a dozen European countries," Circle explained in a statement. "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 upgrade comes months after Circle pivoted away from its bitcoin buying and selling services, though at the time the startup said it still planned to use blockchain behind the scenes.

In a blog post detailing the service upgrades, Circle credited its Spark platform as helping trim the associated transaction costs.

The post also revealed that Circle's trading operation has been working in a number of digital currency markets, including bitcoin and ether, as well as undisclosed tokens distributed in initial coin offerings, or ICOs.

"We actively make markets on nearly all major exchanges globally, and provide significant scale in over-the-counter (OTC) trading with large natural buyers and sellers of crypto assets," the startup said. "The growth is significant – last month (May 2017) Circle directly traded over $800m in crypto assets."

Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Circle.

Euros and dollars image via Shutterstock