Update on June 30, 2020
On June 30, 2020, the FCA (the British regulatory authority) lifted the funds freeze for the British subsidiary of Wirecard. It is this subsidiary which issues and manages Payoneer’s funds. This subsidiary is an independent entity from Wirecard in Germany which has filed for bankruptcy. After the unfreeze, Payoneer announced that the cards and funds will be available within 24 hours. For the moment, my dollar account (which is my main one) is still unavailable, but my EURO account (where I have almost nothing) has returned to normal. I hope that my account and the others will all return to normal in the next 2 or 3 days, because all my subscriptions, especially my web hosting, expires and all my sites may simply disappear.
The other Payoneer services, namely withdrawing money from a local bank account, making a payment (via Payoneer directly) and managing your various currency services (converting an amount from one currency to another) will be available on July 6, 2020. I don’t use these services too much, i only want and hope that my card will be operational within the next few hours so that all automatic renewal payments can pass.
Before the British authorities decided to unfreeze Wirecard, the CEO of Payoneer made a video statement in which he said that Payoneer would undertake to reimburse all user funds, even if the unfreeze would take time. He did not make the announcement earlier because Payoneer had to contact several institutions to provide the necessary cash. Okay, it’s pretty good that the company took on this responsibility. Payoneer also announces that despite the unfreeze of Wirecard and that the authorities have announced that there will be no more problems, the company is looking for and will switch to a new card issuer. All that is fine, but just make sure that my card and my funds are fully unlocked in the coming days.
Wirecard filed for bankruptcy on June 25, 2020. A gigantic fraud is behind. There were 1.9 billion euros missing from their balance sheet, and then they admitted they did not exist. This means that someone broke the jackpot or made up the balance sheet. In both cases, it’s a big shit. Because Wirecard works with more than 300,000 companies worldwide such as Alipay, Google, WeChat, etc. Banks, travel agencies and especially companies used by freelancers like Payoneer.
Payoneer and Wirecard
Payoneer is little known in Europe and the United States, but it is the equivalent of Paypal in poor countries. Freelancing has a very clear demarcation. Almost all Freelance’s clients are in rich countries while almost all Freelancers are in poor countries. In most poor countries, Paypal does not exist because of latent financial racism. And so, Payoneer is the only alternative, because it allows all freelancers, regardless of their country, to use a credit card, make online transactions, withdraw money, etc.
With the bankruptcy of Wirecard, Payoneer has frozen accounts and credit cards are unusable. Payoneer tries to reassure its users, but we feel that the Wirecard meteor strike them by surprise. Which is stupid. Because Wirecard already felt shit in January 2020. All of Wirecard’s partners should have taken their precautions when planning alternatives.
For example, Upwork, the world’s leading freelance platform, has announced that it will no longer pay by Payoneer card until “the matter is resolved”. Millions of freelancers are based on Upwork and therefore, it is their pay directly which is blocked.
A difficult end of the month
Myself, all of my web hosting’s websites is paid for by a Payoneer card on Scaleway. And with the end of the month coming, there will be many transactions that will not happen. This is fine, because Payoneer “protects” them, but if you can’t use them, it’s just numbers. I risk losing all of my sites and there is nothing I can do because there is no alternative to Payoneer anyway.
The end of Fintech
All the morons have sung the glory of Fintech and Wirecard is the champion of Fintech. He collapsed like a big piece of shit and therefore, the whole sector is in danger. The next few days are going to be hot as hell for all of Wirecard’s partners. On the Payoneer forum, users are furious and panicked. Many people relied on these credit cards to pay rent and buy food. I only use them for payments and this could destroy what I have spent 10 years creating in terms of sites. Thank you Wirecard.
Payoneer said he is looking for a replacement for Wirecard for his cards, but that will take time. But time is running out because he has to find a solution in the coming days. It should be understood that the bankruptcy of Wirecard is equivalent to that of AIG in 2008. It is like insurance. When you make an online payment in an e-commerce site, then Wirecard is the intermediary, ensuring that the e-commerce site is paid well. But in this story, it was this intermediary who left with our money. So it’s much more serious than a simple bank’s bankruptcy. Again, this is really shit for the future of many freelancers and online businesses.
