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Skrill

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This article is about the payment service. For the electronic music artist, see Skrillex. For the fictional species, see Earth: Final Conflict.
Skrill, a Paysafe company
Company typePublic company
IndustryOnline payments
Founded27 July 2001; 23 years ago (2001-07-27)
HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Bruce Lowthers (CEO)[1]
ProductsPayment gateway
Digital wallet
Prepaid card
PSP
Cryptocurrencies
Money transfer
RevenueIncrease US $1.496 billion (Paysafe’s FY 2022 revenue)[2]
Number of employees
3,300
ParentPaysafe
Websiteskrill.com

Skrill is part of Paysafe Limited, a global payments platform. It is one of Paysafe's digital wallet brands and was established in 2001 to offer multiple online payment and money transfer services.[3] Skrill operates in more than 100 countries with the digital wallet offered in more than 40 currencies.[4][5] The company facilitates multiple payment options including card payments, bank transfers and local payment methods. The funds in a Skrill account can then be used to pay merchants and other Skrill users or converted into cryptocurrency.

Skrill also has cross-border payments accessible to users via its remittance service.[6] The service enables users to send money to a bank account overseas using their bank card.

In 2015, Skrill was acquired by Paysafe [7][8] along with former competitor NETELLER and prepaid payment provider paysafecard.[9]

Skrill is operated by Paysafe Payment Solutions Limited, a company incorporated in Ireland and regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland,[10] for its European regulated activities. Skrill's activities outside the European Economic Area are operated by Skrill Limited – a company incorporated in the United Kingdom and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.[11]

History

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Early history (2001 to 2015)

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Skrill, formerly known as Moneybookers, was founded in 2001 in the United Kingdom as a digital wallet provider.[12] By 2007, it had become established as one of the top three e-payment solution providers in Europe[13] when it was purchased by Investcorp in March of that year.[14] In August 2010, Skrill blocked an account operated by WikiLeaks as a donation collection account, citing the organisation's addition to Australian blacklists and American watchlists.[15] In September 2011, Moneybookers announced that they would rebrand their service as Skrill, completing the rebrand in 2013.[16] As Skrill, they completed the acquisition of Austrian-based prepaid payment method paysafecard in February 2013,[17] before being acquired by CVC Capital Partners for €600 million in August 2013.[18]

In 2009, Skrill, then known as Moneybookers, suffered a large security breach which exposed the data of almost 4.5 million customers. The breach was not discovered until October 2015 and included names, e-mail addresses, home addresses and IP addresses.[19]

Paysafe subsidiary (2015 onwards)

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In 2015, Skrill was acquired by Optimal Payments, the parent company of rival digital wallet NETELLER, for €1.1 billion.[20] During this period, Skrill Group announced in April 2015 that it had completed the acquisition of Ukash, a UK-based competitor of paysafecard, which was merged during the same year.[21] In November 2015, Optimal Payments rebranded as Paysafe.[22]

In 2018, Skrill began to extend the amount of services offered to its users, launching an international money transfer service in February 2018,[23] and a crypto service in July 2018 allowing users to buy and trade cryptocurrencies.[24] This was followed by the launch of Skrill's customer loyalty programme, KNECT, in November 2019[25] and the extension of the international money transfer service to US users in June 2020.[26]

Sponsorship and relationships

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In 2011, Skrill first sponsored the PokerStars owned European Poker Tour for its eighth season, sponsoring the event again in 2013 for its tenth season.[27]

In July 2013, English football's National League signed a one-year sponsorship deal with Skrill[28] 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 sponsorship deal.[29]

In March 2021, Skrill announced a new partnership with the English Premier League football team Leeds United.[30][31]

Service

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Skrill is a digital multi-currency wallet that handles online payments and money transfers.[32]

Awards

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Skrill was named ‘Best Digital Wallet’ at The Digital Banker’s Global Payments Innovation Awards 2023 and the Juniper Research Future Digital Awards 2019.[32]

Paysafe, Skrill's parent company, was named one of CNBC’s World’s Top Fintech Companies 2023. Paysafe also won the ‘Payments Provider of the Year’ award at the 2023 EGR North America Awards – its third consecutive win in the category.[33]

In 2022, Paysafe was named Payment Service or Solution Provider of the Year at the VIXIO Gambling Compliance Global Regulatory Awards,[34] won in the ‘Payment Solution & Innovation of the Year’ category at the 2022 SBC Awards Latinoamérica[35] for a second consecutive year, and won ‘Payment Innovation of the Year’ at the 2022 SBC Awards North America.[36]

References

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  1. ^ "Paysafe org chart". Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  2. ^ "Paysafe anual results 2022" (PDF). Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  3. ^ "Skrill Holdings Limited: Private Company Information". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  4. ^ "E-Wallet Comparison: Skrill serviced countries list". Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  5. ^ "Sending money with Skrill made easier than ever with new send to phone number feature". Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  6. ^ "Skrill Money Transfer Review: Is it safe? How does it work? What are the rates?". Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  7. ^ "Board of Directors". Paysafe. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  8. ^ "Skrill taps football legend to publicise its prepaid Mastercard Skrill prepaid". Cards International. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  9. ^ "Optimal Payments to buy e-wallet rival for $1.2 billion". Reuters. 23 March 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  10. ^ "Skrill Account Terms of Use". Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  11. ^ "Skrill Launches Free International Money Transfer Service In U.S." www.businesswire.com. 8 June 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  12. ^ "Company information for SKRILL LIMITED (04260907) incorporated 27-07-2001". Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  13. ^ "Investcorp and the Moneybookers Bid". hbr.org. 2 February 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  14. ^ "Investcorp Technology Partners Undertakes Buyout of Moneybookers Limited for EUR105 Million" (Press release). 28 March 2007. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  15. ^ Leigh, David; Evans, Rob (14 October 2010). "WikiLeaks says funding has been blocked after government blacklisting". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  16. ^ "Moneybookers to rebrand as Skrill - hopes to become a verb". 6 November 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  17. ^ Moss, Karen (11 February 2013). "Skrill acquires paysafecard.com". retail-systems.com. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  18. ^ Williams, Christopher (19 August 2013). "CVC buys PayPal rival Skrill for £500m". The Telegraph. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  19. ^ "Gambling Darling Paysafe Confirms 7.8 Million Customers Hit In Epic Old Hacks". Forbes. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  20. ^ PYMNTS (24 March 2015). "Optimal Payments' Billion Dollar Bet On Online Gaming". www.pymnts.com. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  21. ^ "Skrill Group completes Ukash acquisition" (Press release). Finextra. 1 April 2015. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  22. ^ "Optimal Payments Becomes Paysafe in Game-Changing Global Rebrand". 11 November 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  23. ^ "Paysafe – Money transfers made easy with Skrill Send Direct". 2 May 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  24. ^ "Skrill opens crypto wallet". 25 July 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  25. ^ "Skrill launches customer reward programme: Skrill Knect". 22 November 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  26. ^ "Paysafe launches Skrill money transfer in US". 8 June 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  27. ^ "Skrill returns as Official Payment Provider Sponsor of European Poker Tour for Season 10". 3 July 2013. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  28. ^ "Skrill is the new title sponsor for the Football Conference Leagues". 26 July 2013. Archived from the original on 30 June 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  29. ^ "AC MILAN ANNOUNCES SKRILL AS ITS OFFICIAL GLOBAL PAYMENTS PARTNER". AC Milan. 12 May 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  30. ^ "LEEDS UNITED ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH SKRILL". Leeds United. 12 March 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  31. ^ "Leeds United announces partnership with Skrill". Skrill. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  32. ^ Miller, George (4 November 2019). "Skrill named Best Digital Wallet 2019 by Juniper Research". Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  33. ^ Simmons, Fiona (1 May 2023). "EGR Announces 2023 EGR North America Award Winners". GamblingNews. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  34. ^ "2022 Global Regulatory Award Winners | VIXIO GamblingCompliance Global Regulatory Awards". gamblingcomplianceawards.com. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  35. ^ "SBC Events".
  36. ^ "Paysafe wins 'Payment Innovation of the Year' award". Gaming International Online. 20 July 2022. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
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