AstroPay

What AstroPay Is

AstroPay is an electronic money account with a card attached rather than a bank or a card scheme. Its own home page describes the product as sending, paying and exchanging money worldwide, and its business pages describe multicurrency accounts, currency exchange, payments and cards. It is one of the few wallets that names gambling operators as a customer segment in its own marketing: AstroPay publishes a gaming use case addressed to operators, offering instant deposits and withdrawals and faster onboarding through its own fraud-monitoring and identity checks, and describing the appeal of letting players bet in their own currency.

Who Operates It and Who Regulates It

Four operating companies and four regulators are named on AstroPay's own terms page. Larstal Limited is an electronic money institution authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011, with firm reference number 901001. Larstal Denmark ApS is an electronic money institution authorised by the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority under FTID 40514. AstroPay Global (IOM) Limited, number 135497C, is licensed and regulated by the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority as a Class 8(2)(a) and (4) licence holder to provide money transmission services. Astro Instituição de Pagamento Ltda, CNPJ 34.006.497/0001-77, is a payment institution authorised by the Brazilian Central Bank as an electronic currency issuer. A separate company, AP Digital (IOM) Limited, number 135889C, is registered with the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority under the Designated Business Act to conduct convertible virtual currency activity.

The Money Is Not a Bank Deposit

AstroPay states this itself, twice and in plain terms. It states that Larstal Limited's activities in respect of electronic money do not constitute deposit taking activities and that customers' funds are not protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme in the United Kingdom, and it states of AstroPay Global (IOM) Limited that its electronic money activities are not deposit taking and that customers' money is not protected by a compensation scheme. A balance sitting in an AstroPay account is therefore electronic money held by an authorised issuer, which is a different thing from a protected bank deposit.

Terms Differ by Country

AstroPay states that the applicable terms and conditions depend on the jurisdiction where the account is registered, and its terms page is organised that way: separate conditions for Argentina, Brazil, the European Economic Area, Peru and the United Kingdom, and a further set for any other country. Because fees, limits and features are set in those country documents rather than in one global schedule, no fee figure, limit or processing time is given here, and none is averaged across jurisdictions. A reader should read the set for the country their own account is registered in.