Thunes

Thunes operates a Direct Global Network for real-time cross-border payments, serving banks and neobanks, money transfer operators, payment service providers, mobile wallets, ecommerce, gig economy platforms, payroll providers and digital asset companies.

Reaching mobile wallets is the capability that defines Thunes and it reflects how money actually moves in much of the world. In large parts of Africa, South and Southeast Asia the wallet is the primary financial account and the bank account does not exist, so a payment network that terminates only at banks simply cannot deliver to the recipient. Pay-to-wallet is not an alternative rail there, it is the only one.

Being a direct network rather than a broker is the structural claim underneath. Every intermediary in a cross-border chain adds a fee, a delay and a point at which a payment can fail without explanation, so building direct connections into each market is what makes real-time delivery and predictable cost achievable.

The payout options are unusually broad, covering pay-to-cards, digital vouchers, buy now pay later acceptance and pay-to-stablecoin-wallets, the last being a serious inclusion rather than a gesture given how much remittance value now moves through stablecoins. Gig economy platforms and payroll and employer of record providers are named customer types, which is where high-volume small-value international payouts concentrate. API documentation and a knowledge base are public. Rates are not published.