WebMoney

WebMoney Transfer
Company typeOnline payment solution
FoundedNovember 1998; 26 years ago (1998-11) in Moscow[1][2]
HeadquartersMoscow, Russia[3]
ServicesOnline payments, Payment processor
ParentWebMoney Transfer Ltd[4]
WebsiteOfficial website

WebMoney is an online payment settlement system established in Russia in 1998.[1][5] It is one of the largest electronic payments processors in Russia by number of users,[6][7] with the company reporting 45 million registered accounts and 300,000 active weekly users in early 2020,[8] and 100,000 stores accepting payments via the system. WebMoney is owned and operated by WM Transfer Ltd.[9]

Service

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WebMoney users' funds are stored in a "purse", which holds electronic money corresponding to an underlying asset, such as a currency.[2] The underlying assets for WebMoney units are held by a global network of companies that act as guarantors for the payment system.[10] Guarantors accept deposits in the underlying assets and issue the corresponding WebMoney units.[11] WebMoney Transfer can be used for peer-to-peer payments, and includes an escrow system. It charges 0.8% of the transacted amount in fees, up to a maximum fee of €50.

WebMoney provides an application called WebMoney Keeper for using their payments services, for Microsoft Windows,[12] Windows Phone, Android, iOS, and Blackberry.[13][10] In 2006, security researcher Kris Kaspersky criticised WebMoney Keeper Classic for Windows, as it installed a low-level device driver that allowed direct access to the I/O ports and accessed the hard disk directly using ATA commands instead of via the operating system.[14]

History

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The company was founded in November 1998 in Russia[5] as a money transfer system for United States dollars, in the wake of the 1998 Russian financial crisis that had led to increased US dollar use in Russia.[1][2]

In November 2015, WebMoney Europe Ltd, based in Cambridge, United Kingdom, was granted an FCA licence to issue e-money within the European Economic Area.[15] On 01-01-2021, the company terminated its agreements with all WebMoney EUR wallet holders as a result of Brexit.[16]

In 2019, Sberbank said that WebMoney had joined its instant transfer ecosystem, allowing clients to make instant transfers from Sberbank cards to WebMoney purses and vice versa. The recipient’s phone number (which the card or purse is tied to) is needed to transfer funds.[17]

In March 2019, the international settlement system WebMoney introduced a video identification system for customers. [18]

The WebMoney Transfer system offered the solution of accepting payments via QR code for restaurants and shops. Customers need to scan a QR code displayed on the cash till screen and confirm the payment. In 2019, Burger King Russia has partnered with WebMoney Transfer to integrate QR code payments for customers.[19]

On February 11, 2022, the Central Bank of Russian Federation revoked the license of KKB Bank JSC, the guarantor and the settlement bank for WebMoney's Russian ruble wallets, freezing WebMoney's funds on KKB's accounts.[20][21]

In Ukraine

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In June 2013, the Ukrainian government seized computer equipment from the Ukrainian guarantor and froze ₴60 million (US$7.5 million) of funds residing on guarantor's accounts in Ukraine, causing Ukrainian WebMoney transactions to be blocked. Officials of the Ministry of Revenues and Duties of Ukraine said that there were major irregularities in the operations of the company acting as the Ukrainian guarantor, and that the rules of the operation of the payment system were not agreed with the National Bank of Ukraine.[22][23][24] The ministry described WebMoney as an "illegal system" that was suspected of being used for money laundering and tax evasion, and the central bank said that WebMoney did not have a licence to operate in Ukraine.[25] WebMoney transactions resumed in Ukraine the following week.[25]

In March 2015, the Ukrainian guarantor's bank accounts were released after a court ruling. Later that year, the National Bank of Ukraine[26] and the State Savings Bank of Ukraine[27] partnered with WebMoney.UA.

In May 2018, the National Bank of Ukraine has abolished the registration of the inner-state payment system WebMoney.UA (the subsidiary of 'Financing company ElMI', Kyiv) as it was put on the sanctions list of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.[28]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Ghernaouti, Solange (2016-04-19). "Chapter 8: The Cybercriminal's Toolkits". Cyber Power: Crime, Conflict and Security in Cyberspace. CRC Press. p. 248. ISBN 9781466573055.
  2. ^ a b c Mullan, Philip Carl (2014). "WebMoney Transfer". The Digital Currency Challenge: Shaping Online Payment Systems through US Financial Regulations. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781137382559.
  3. ^ "Company Overview of WM Transfer Ltd". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
  4. ^ "WebMoney Owner and Administrator". WebMoney. Retrieved 2018-02-09.
  5. ^ a b Muel, Melisande, ed. (2011-11-14). "Exclusive Interview: Vladimir Sharko, Director, International Business Development, WebMoney Transfer". The Paypers. Archived from the original on 2016-08-10. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  6. ^ "TNS Studies the Popularity of E-Money in Russia". Yandex.Money. 2014-05-29. Archived from the original on 2018-02-28. Retrieved 2018-02-28.
  7. ^ "WebMoney Europe: We are not just an e-wallet, we create the environment for doing business online". Banks.eu. Archived from the original on 2016-04-26. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
  8. ^ "WebMoney Statistics". WebMoney. 2020-05-29. Archived from the original on 2020-05-29. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  9. ^ "WebMoney Owner and Administrator". WebMoney. Archived from the original on 2020-03-03. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
  10. ^ a b Mullan, Philip Carl (2016). A History of Digital Currency in the United States: New Technology in an Unregulated Market. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 252–259. ISBN 9781137568700.
  11. ^ Finberg, Ron (2013-06-19). "Is WebMoney the Next Liberty Reserve?". Archived from the original on 2018-02-28. Retrieved 2018-02-28.
  12. ^ "Keeper WinPro (Classic)". WebMoney. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  13. ^ "Keeper Mobile". WebMoney. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  14. ^ Kaspersky, Kris (2006-10-01). "Голая правда о WebMoney" [The Naked Truth About WebMoney]. Hacker. No. 94. pp. 62–68. Archived from the original on 2014-09-04. Retrieved 2020-05-30.
  15. ^ Finextra (2015-11-17). "WebMoney gets European e-money license". Finextra Research. Retrieved 2018-02-09.
  16. ^ "WME EU License Notice". 2020-10-29.
  17. ^ "Sberbank customers can now transfer money from their cards using recipient phone number". Finextra Research. 2019-02-22. Retrieved 2019-07-31.
  18. ^ "WebMoney запускает систему идентификации клиентов по видео". profile.ru.
  19. ^ "Burger King, WebMoney team up for QR code payment solution". www.thepaypers.com. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
  20. ^ "WebMoney halts operations with Russian wallets from February 11". TASS. 2022-02-11. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
  21. ^ "The Central Bank revoked the license of the Astrakhan bank "KKB"". AK&M Information Agency. 2022-02-11. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
  22. ^ "UAH 60 mln of Ukrainians blocked in WebMoney by tax authorities". QHA. Retrieved 2014-12-19.
  23. ^ Dixon, Julia. "Ukraine freezes WebMoney bank accounts". DGC Magazine.
  24. ^ "WebMoney Ukraine says tax evasion charges are 'absurd'". Russian Legal Information Agency. 2013-06-14. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  25. ^ a b "WebMoney says Ukrainian arm resumes transactions". Interfax-Ukraine. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  26. ^ "Внутрішньодержавні платіжні системи та міжнародні платіжні системи, платіжними організаціями яких є резиденти". National Bank of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). 2015-05-21. Archived from the original on 2017-08-28. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
  27. ^ Karpus, Vadim (2015-06-18). ""Ощадбанк" стал партнёром Webmoney.UA (Oschadbank has become WebMoney.UA's partner)". ITC.ua (in Russian). Hotline LLC. Archived from the original on 2017-09-02. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  28. ^ National Bank of Ukraine excludes WebMoney from register of inner-state payment systems. 112 Ukraine. 2018-05-25.
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