US-based instant card-to-card Funding-as-a-Service Astra has announced it is using Visa Direct – Visa’s real-time payments service. The purpose of this agreement is, according to the press release, to provide fast payments to millions of its end-users who can fund cards, wallets, and other accounts with their eligible debit cards.

Astra provides a payments platform that allows developers to safely add transfer functionality to their existing applications, all in a span of approximately a week of development time. Astra Platform is built for scale and is integrated via API and allows builders to add payment functionality to their applications without the need for handling additional compliance, capital commitments, or operational costs. Opportunities derived from Astra’s Visa Direct integration As described by the company, the platform is constructed to make the onboarding process for a new user of a digital bank or marketplace app last as little as possible.

In the US, creating a new bank account or a wallet can be cumbersome considering the wait time for an ACH transfer to clear before the associated debit card can be used. In this context, Astra officials claim that their consumers can fund a new debit card in real-time, transferring funds from an existing debit card through Visa Direct. Visa Direct’s technology offers access to fintech products created to help consumers transfer funds in real time in a desired account, on a 24/7 basis.

Gil Akos, CEO of Astra has stated in the company press release that through Asta’s collaboration with Visa, the company can provide fast payments for me-to-me and P2P transactions. Officials from Visa Direct stressed the fact that fintechs and neo-banks must enhance their payment options to meet consumers’ demands for speed and convenience when moving money. Visa Direct, background and recent updates Visa Direct enables person-to-person (P2P), business-to-consumer (B2C), and business-to-business (B2B) payments.

With Visa Direct, funds can be transferred into the recipient’s Visa account quickly, conveniently, and securely – providing instant access to funds and the ability to make purchases at 44 million retail locations worldwide. The Visa Direct platform is available in more than 200 markets around the world and allows access to a Visa Direct API library that financial institutions and technology partners can quickly build real-time payment solutions through a suite of web services on the Visa Developer Platform. The platform was launched in Europe in 2017 to allow companies to leverage Visa’s global reach and scale to transform domestic and cross-border payments for businesses and consumers.

In early August 2022, Gopuff, a US-based delivery firm, has partnered with financial infrastructure platform Stripe and Visa Direct, to offer its partners with an eligible debit card the option to cash out quicker. Earlier in March, Canadian fintech Payfare has added Visa Direct to its platform to facilitate real-time payouts for gig workers. .