All You Need to Know About Skrill

For more than two decades, Skrill has been acting as a flexible and innovative service provider for digital transactions and money transfers. Formerly branded as Moneybookers, Skrill was founded in 2001 and has grown to such an extent that it’s operational in 131 nations worldwide. The company is now partnered with all kinds of brands and industries, ranging from Wix and Shopify in the e-commerce sector to 777Casino and Playtech in the iGaming sector. A recent oddschecker review of 777Casino said that Skrill is one of only five approved deposit methods, underlining its sound reputation for safe and fast cross-border transactions.

Skrill had therefore come a very long way since its infancy back when Moneybookers was founded by fintech entrepreneurs Benjamin Kullmannhich and Daniel Klein. Moneybookers caught the eye of the fintech industry, as it was the first operator to obtain an electronic money license. Fast forward six years to 2007, and Skrill has already cemented itself as one of the three most popular digital payment solutions providers in Western Europe.

This sustained growth attracted the attention of Investcorp, who promptly acquired Moneybookers in a deal said to be worth around $112.5 million. Just two years later, Investcorp’s venture arm opted to list Moneybookers with the aim of flipping the business in a sale worth around $506 million. With digital wallets continuing to grow in popularity, Moneybookers doubled its annual revenues in 2008.

It wasn’t until August 2013 that Moneybookers was eventually sold. By early 2013, the company had conducted a successful rebrand to Skrill, which is short for the slang name ‘skrilla’ used to describe money. Just six months prior to Skrill’s sale to CVC Capital Partners, they too had acquired Austrian prepaid card solution Paysafecard, strengthening their hand ahead of the big-money sale worth $800 million.

Less than 18 months later, CVC Capital Partners then brokered a deal to sell Skrill again. Optimal Payments, the parent company of its competitor e-wallet, Neteller, agreed to pay $1.18 billion to acquire Skrill. During this period of negotiation, Skrill Group had completed another acquisition of its own, with Paysafecard competitor Ukash moving under the Skrill Group umbrella.

Once Optimal Payments completed its purchase of Skrill, the company opted to rebrand as Paysafe Group, with Skrill operating as a subsidiary of the Paysafe parent company. In 2019, it was named Best Digital Wallet at Juniper Research’s Future Digital Awards. The firm has since invested heavily in overhauling its overseas money transfer service to the US market and has permitted cryptocurrency transactions since the summer of 2018.

The Pros and Cons of Skrill as a Payment Provider

Pros

• Skrill is now a tried and trusted online payment solution. It has over 25 million active users and is accepted by a string of major retailers.
• Those who prefer to make transactions using cryptocurrency or, indeed, trade cryptocurrencies can do so with Skrill. The platform supports more than 40 cryptocurrencies, with secure payments and competitive transaction fees.
• Skrill has multi-currency support, meaning you can manage your money in several currencies, which is handy if you have bank accounts in different countries and want to take advantage of currency exchanges when a currency is at its strongest.
• Skrill embraces industry-leading security methods, including two-factor authentication (2FA), to safeguard users’ sensitive data and finances.

Cons

• Be mindful of currency exchange fees. If you want to convert your pounds into anything other than euros, you’ll incur a foreign exchange fee worth up to 3.99% of your transaction.
• Skrill still has restrictions on the countries it serves, with the likes of Japan and Turkey yet to embrace it as an e-wallet solution.

Skrill has firmly established itself in the US market as a credible digital payment provider. Its innovative loyalty programs have gone a long way to tapping into one of the most lucrative consumer markets on the planet. Skrill Knect gives American account holders access to exclusive benefits like cashback and reward points for every dollar they spend using a Skrill-branded Visa Prepaid Card. Its VIP program is also geared towards high-spending individuals, granting access to hospitality at major networking and sporting events.

Skrill is one of several digital wallet solutions, proving that these third-party providers can help preserve the integrity of conventional bank accounts and provide greater accountability for spending and saving.