Skrill (formerly Moneybookers) is a

digital wallet A digital wallet, also known as an e-wallet, is an electronic device, online service, or software program that allows one party to make electronic transactions with another party bartering digital currency units for goods and services. This can ...

provider established in 2001 which offers a multiple online payment and money transfer services. Skrill operates in 131 countries with the digital wallet offered in 40 currencies. Customers can transfer money to their Skrill wallet using multiple payment options which include by card, bank transfer, and others. The funds can then be used to pay merchant and users that accepts payments via Skrill or turned into

cryptocurrency A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. It i ...

. Skrill also has cross-border payments accessible to customers via its

remittance A remittance is a non-commercial transfer of money by a foreign worker, a member of a diaspora community, or a citizen with familial ties abroad, for household income in their home country or homeland. Money sent home by migrants competes wit ...

service. The service enables customers to send money to a bank account overseas using their bank card. In 2015, Skrill was acquired by the Paysafe Group along with former competitor

Neteller Neteller is an e-money transfer service used to transfer money to and from merchants, such as forex trading firms, social networks firms. Users in some locations can withdraw funds directly using the Net+ card or transfer the balance to their own ...

and prepaid payment provider

paysafecard Paysafecard (as a brand stylized in lowercase) is a prepaid online payment method based on vouchers with a 16-digit PIN code, independent of bank account, credit card, or other personal information. Customers can purchase vouchers at local sales o ...

. Skrill is operated by Paysafe Payment Solutions Limited, a company incorporated in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and regulated by the

Central Bank of Ireland The Central Bank of Ireland ( ga, Banc Ceannais na hÉireann) is Ireland's central bank, and as such part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). It is the country's financial services regulator for most categories of financial firms ...

, for its European regulated activities. Skrill's activities outside the

European Economic Area The European Economic Area (EEA) was established via the ''Agreement on the European Economic Area'', an international agreement which enables the extension of the European Union's single market to member states of the European Free Trade Ass ...

are operated by Skrill Limited – a company incorporated in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and regulated by the

Financial Conduct Authority The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulation, financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom, but operates independently of the UK Government, and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The ...

History

Early history (2001 to 2015)

Skrill was originally founded in 2001 in the United Kingdom as Moneybookers, a

provider. By 2007 it had become established as one of the top three e-payment solution providers in Europe. when it was purchased by

Investcorp Investcorp is a global manager of alternative investment products, for private and institutional clients. Founded in Bahrain in 1982, the firm has offices in United States, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, India, China, ...

in March of that year In August 2010, Skrill blocked the account operated by

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international Nonprofit organization, non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous Source (journalism), sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activism, Internet acti ...

as a donation collection account, citing the organisation's addition to Australian blacklists and American watchlists. In September 2011, Moneybookers announced that they would rebrand their service as Skrill, completing the rebrand in 2013. As Skrill, they completed the acquisition of Austrian-based prepaid payment method

in February 2013, before being acquired by

CVC Capital Partners CVC Capital Partners is a Luxembourg-based French private equity and investment advisory firm with approximately US$133 billion of assets under management and approximately €157 billion in secured commitments since inception across American, E ...

for €600 million in August 2013.

Paysafe subsidiary (2015 onwards)

In 2015, Skrill was acquired by Optimal Payments, the parent company of rival digital wallet

, for €1.1 billion. During this period, Skrill Group announced in April 2015 that it had completed acquisition of Ukash, a UK-based competitor of paysafecard, which was merged during the same year. In November 2015, Optimal Payments rebranded as

Paysafe Paysafe Limited (formerly known as Optimal Payments PLC) is a multinational online payments company. The group offers services both under the ''Paysafe'' brand and subsidiary brands that have become part of the group through several mergers an ...

. In 2018, Skrill began to extend the amount of services offered to its customers, launching an international money transfer service in February 2018, and a crypto service in July 2018 allowing users to buy and trade

cryptocurrencies A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank A bank is a financial i ...

. This was followed by the launch of Skrill's customer loyalty programme, KNECT, in November 2019 and the extension of the international money transfer service to US customers in June 2020.

Sponsorship and relationships

In 2011, Skrill first sponsored the

PokerStars PokerStars is an online poker cardroom that was a part of The Stars Group until it was sold to Flutter Entertainment on May 5, 2020. It can be accessed through downloadable poker clients for the Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. It is the large ...

owned

European Poker Tour The European Poker Tour (EPT) is a series of poker tournaments similar to those in the World Poker Tour (WPT), created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. It began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in Tex ...

for its eighth season, sponsoring the event again in 2013 for its tenth season. In July 2013, English football's

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

signed a one-year sponsorship deal with Skrill with the Conference's divisions being known as The Skrill Premier, The Skrill North and The Skrill South. In May 2020, Skrill announced a four-year

AC Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seasons ...

sponsorship deal. In March 2021, Skrill announced a new partnership with the

English Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

football team

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

Service

Skrill is a digital multi-currency wallet provider for handling online payments, making transfers and storing money. Skrill can also be used to buy and trade

. Customers in certain locations can obtain a Skrill Card linked to their account.

Awards

Skrill was named Best Digital Wallet in 2019 by Juniper Research at their Future Digital Awards. Paysafe, Skrill's parent company, received the Payments Processor of the Year award at the 2019 American Gambling Awards for the Skrill digital wallet and sister product

Paysafecard Paysafecard (as a brand stylized in lowercase) is a prepaid online payment method based on vouchers with a 16-digit PIN code, independent of bank account, credit card, or other personal information. Customers can purchase vouchers at local sales o ...

. In 2019 Paysafe won the ‘Best Online Payments Solution – Consumer’ at the Payments Awards. The accolade recognised Paysafe's suite of online consumer payment methods, including its digital wallets Skrill and

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Skrill Digital currencies Electronic funds transfer Payment service providers Online gambling Companies based in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Foreign exchange companies Financial services companies established in 2001 2015 mergers and acquisitions