Dublin payments firm debuts group transfers

The move is the latest from the company that is trying to become Europe's biggest peer-to-peer money transfer app.

It is likely to be aimed at clubs, societies and groups out in restaurants.

The company claims that it is the only peer-to-peer payment app in Ireland that provides this group-chat functionality globally and across currencies.

"This is the first time in history that people in Ireland, the UK and Europe can send money to the US, at no cost, with no foreign exchange markup, and have the funds received and available in the recipient's bank account almost instantly," said Jeremy Allaire, chief executive and co-founder at Circle.

"It's finally possible for money to work the way the internet works for content."

A new system of faster withdrawals are also being launched by Circle which allows users to transfer cash from Circle into a US bank account without a lag or fees.

"Other companies in the US that offer fast withdrawals are only domestically capable of this and charge for the benefit," said Allaire.

"Circle is the first and only cross-border payments platform in the world to make this possible for free."

The startup, which has so far attracted €128m in funding from backers such as Goldman Sachs and IDG, regards Dublin as its global headquarters. Co-founders Allaire and Sean Neville are American and spend most of their time at the firm's Boston office.

Previously attracting attention as a bitcoin-related company, Circle now uses some of the related technology behind the cryptocurrency to build systems for transferring established currencies more cheaply than existing transfer systems are capable of. Allaire and Neville say that they want their peer-to-peer service to become the Gmail of casual payments, letting people use their own currencies and bank accounts. Its main product works with Visa and Mastercard debit cards.

The company wants to bypass much of the existing middleman technology and bureaucracy associated with transfers in favour of new secure standards that are much more accessible.

Allaire said that Circle is currently experiencing growth rates of 427pc in monthly active users.