Introduction

Wirex Pay is a blockchain-based payment platform established as a bridge between blockchain technology and traditional financial systems. It uses Zero-Knowledge (ZK) technology from Polygon to enable secure, efficient, and gasless transactions across Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible chains to address important challenges associated with digital assets, including scalability and privacy, by ensuring transaction efficiency without compromising user autonomy.

A big part of the Wirex Pay ecosystem is the WPAY token, an ERC-20 token designed for governance, staking, and operational utility within the platform. WPAY supports a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) framework, enabling holders to participate in decisions by voting on protocol changes, funding allocations, and other important implementations. Wirex Pay encourages decentralization through a system of node operators, who contribute to network security and performance while earning rewards. This infrastructure, therefore, aims to provide a scalable, user-centric payment solution adaptable to various applications, from individual financial management to large-scale enterprise transactions​

What is Wirex Pay?

Wirex and Wirex Pay are interconnected but serve distinct roles within the Wirex ecosystem. Wirex, the parent company, focuses on traditional financial services such as card issuing, transaction monitoring, and regulatory compliance through partnerships with Visa and Mastercard.

This foundation enables Wirex Pay to operate seamlessly within regulated financial frameworks while extending these services to decentralized finance. Governed by a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization), Wirex Pay leverages blockchain technology, including ZK Validium, to offer a decentralized, non-custodial payment solution that bridges Web3 and traditional finance.

Wirex Pay was created to extend Wirex’s mission of integrating blockchain technology with traditional finance, establishing an user friendly and decentralized digital payment solution. As part of the Wirex ecosystem, Wirex Pay supports the company’s vision of enabling users to manage, spend, and transfer digital assets as easily as they would with traditional financial systems. By combining decentralized finance (DeFi) principles with the infrastructure of established payment networks, this network bridges the Web3 landscape with mainstream financial services.

Designed for different use cases, Wirex Pay provides non-custodial wallet solutions for individual users and supports enterprise-level applications, such as payroll and expense management. The platform’s partnerships with financial networks like Visa and Mastercard back up this functionality, positioning Wirex Pay as an alternative that integrates easily with traditional financial systems.

The platform is designed to be inclusive, catering to a diverse user base that includes individual crypto enthusiasts and business clients. Through partnerships with major financial networks, Wirex Pay manages transaction settlements with companies like Visa and Mastercard, integrating these services into its decentralized framework.

Wirex Pay’s development team includes experienced professionals in blockchain technology, digital payments, and financial services. Wirex, the parent company, was co-founded by Pavel Matveev and Dmitry Lazarichev, both of whom bring significant expertise in fintech and digital innovation to the table. Other than its team, Wirex Pay benefits from very important partnerships and collaborations. Notably, Polygon, whose Zero-Knowledge (ZK) technology is part of Wirex Pay’s infrastructure, enhancing both scalability and privacy.

Features and Infrastructure

Non-Custodial Wallets

Wirex Pay allows users to retain control over their funds through non-custodial wallet support. This means that users have complete ownership of their assets, as they hold their own private keys, without relying on third-party custodians.

Non-custodial wallets integrated with Wirex Pay can issue payment cards, enabling users to spend digital assets directly at merchants worldwide. This integration bridges the gap between digital assets and everyday transactions, expanding the known use cases for non-custodial wallets.

Zero-Knowledge (ZK) Technology

Wirex Pay uses Zero-Knowledge (ZK) technology, both ZK Rollups and Validium, to enhance scalability and privacy. These rollups bundle multiple transactions into a single proof that is verified on the main blockchain, reducing the data load on the main chain, increasing transaction throughput. Validium, in contrast, stores transaction data off-chain, which allows for even higher scalability. By maintaining transaction proofs on the blockchain while storing data off-chain, Validium offers greater privacy and cost efficiency, making it suitable for applications requiring high throughput and low latency.

Both technologies contribute to Wirex Pay’s ability to support secure, scalable, and efficient digital payments, helping the network process a large volume of transactions without overloading the blockchain infrastructure.

Dual Staking and Restaking

Wirex Pay incorporates a dual staking model that enables users to stake WPAY alongside stable assets like ETH or BTC. This model enhances network security by allowing multiple assets to support the network, which mitigates risks associated with fluctuations in WPAY’s value. The dual staking setup also promotes economic security, as staking WPAY in conjunction with ETH or BTC maintains a stable security baseline. Dual staking reduces the possibility of a “death spiral,” where declining token values could otherwise undermine network security. Through this mechanism, Wirex Pay attracts a broader group of stakers, promoting decentralization and contributing to a more resilient network structure.

These elements collectively support Wirex Pay’s mission to provide a decentralized, secure, and scalable payment platform that integrates with existing financial infrastructure while maintaining the core principles of DeFi.

How Wirex Pay Works

Wirex Pay users begin by setting up a Spending Account Abstraction (AA), which connects to an Externally Owned Account (EOA) wallet. This setup grants users control over their digital assets while maintaining the ability to interact with Wirex Pay’s services.

After registering, users link their EOA wallet, allowing them to access blockchain services through a customizable interface. This process provides users with a secure way to authorize transactions directly from their personal wallets. The integration of AA and EOA enables users to establish their transaction parameters and spending preferences, maintaining ownership and control over their assets independently of third-party custodians.

Transaction Customization

Wirex Pay enables users to manage transaction authorizations by configuring specific spending limits and preferences. Users can define parameters for transaction amounts, daily spending limits, and other restrictions to enhance security. These settings determine the scope of transactions permitted within the user’s account, requiring each transaction to align with the established limits.

This level of customization is designed to meet users’ individual financial requirements and control preferences. By setting these parameters, users can better manage how their assets are spent, ensuring that all transactions adhere to their established limits and security measures.

Settlement and Processing

Settlement and processing of transactions are processed through the platform’s partnerships with Visa and Mastercard. When users make purchases, Wirex Pay manages the back-end process, including the necessary steps to reconcile digital assets with traditional currency.

The platform converts cryptocurrencies to fiat as needed, allowing transactions to be completed at merchants that accept traditional currencies.

This system provides users with a way to spend digital assets while Wirex Pay oversees the digital-to-fiat conversion. This arrangement integrates blockchain transactions with existing financial systems, enabling users to make purchases from a broad network of merchants without engaging in separate currency exchanges.

WPAY Token

The WPAY token operates on the Ethereum blockchain as an ERC-20 token, specifically designed to support the Wirex Pay network’s decentralized payment functions. It has a total supply of 10 billion tokens, which are allocated across various categories to ensure both immediate usability and long-term sustainability.

While WXT is the utility token within the Wirex app, offering benefits like fee discounts and rewards, WPAY is used for governance and operational functions within Wirex Pay. WPAY holders participate in decision-making through the Wirex Pay DAO, influencing network upgrades and resource allocations. This separation allows WXT to serve user-focused benefits on the main Wirex platform, while WPAY manages governance and network security in the Wirex Pay ecosystem​.

Within Wirex Pay, WPAY also enables staking and node rewards. Token holders can stake WPAY for rewards, encouraging user participation and supporting network stability. Node operators are compensated in WPAY for validating transactions, maintaining network security, and contributing to Wirex Pay’s operational efficiency.

WPAY has multiple purposes within the Wirex Pay ecosystem, such as enabling governance, rewarding staking activities, and supporting node operations. The token’s ERC-20 structure ensures compatibility with Ethereum-based applications, enhancing its accessibility and integration with other decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms.

The token is also used to govern the Wirex Pay network, enabling holders to participate in decision-making processes within the Wirex Pay Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). Through this framework, WPAY holders can propose and vote on changes to the network, such as upgrades and resource allocations, so that the development and strategic direction of Wirex Pay are directly influenced by the community of token holders.

Beyond governance, WPAY also has operational functions. Token holders can stake their tokens in exchange for rewards, which encourages active participation and supports network security. WPAY is also used to incentivize node operations, where node operators contribute to the network’s security and efficiency by validating transactions and maintaining infrastructure.

Wirex Pay Tokenomics

Supply and Distribution of Wirex Pay

WPAY has a fixed total supply of 10 billion tokens, distributed strategically to support the immediate and long-term objectives of the Wirex Pay network. The token allocation includes:

• 20% for node operator rewards, which compensates those who contribute to the network’s security and operations.
• 20% designated for the development team, with vesting schedules that promote sustained contributions to the network.
• The treasury holds 38.14% of the total supply, intended for growth initiatives, ecosystem development, and potential partnerships.
• Staking rewards (around 12.86%), liquidity provision, and airdrops for early adopters, which are designed to encourage active participation and community engagement within the network.

Node Operator Rewards

Node operators in the Wirex Pay network maintain the decentralized infrastructure by validating transactions. To support this, 20% of the WPAY supply is allocated to reward node operators, who also earn revenue through a share of network transaction fees. This revenue-sharing model allows node operators to receive up to 40% of the transaction revenue generated on the network, providing ongoing incentives for operational support and security contributions. Node operators must stake WPAY to become eligible, aligning their financial interests with the long-term stability of the network and supporting its decentralized structure.

Vesting and Lock-Up

The WPAY tokenomics establishes specific vesting schedules and lock-up periods to ensure the network’s growth remains sustainable. For instance, the amount of tokens allocated to the development team is subject to a 12-month lock-up, followed by gradual release over the next three years, which encourages continued involvement by the team and helps to manage market liquidity, reducing token price volatility.

Staking rewards and node operator tokens are released gradually over five years, with initial lock-up periods to promote long-term participation. These mechanisms help balance immediate operational needs with future growth and network stability, creating a foundation for sustained development.

Partnerships and Ecosystem

Wirex Pay integrates directly with Visa and Mastercard, enabling users to conduct transactions in both regular and cryptocurrency by making purchases at any business that accepts Visa or Mastercard, with transactions settled through a process that converts digital assets into fiat currency. When a purchase is made, Wirex Pay handles the backend settlement by converting the user’s crypto into a stablecoin, which is then processed through the Visa or Mastercard network.

This integration extends the reach of digital assets into the traditional financial landscape, providing a practical bridge for cryptocurrency holders to utilize their assets across a global network of merchants.

Polygon ZK Technology

Wirex Pay relies on Polygon’s Zero-Knowledge (ZK) technology to enhance scalability and efficiency. Polygon’s Chain Development Kit (CDK) is a ZK-powered solution that supports layer-2 chains specifically built for Ethereum, optimizing transaction throughput by enabling thousands of transactions per second.

The integration of AggLayer further optimizes Wirex Pay’s transaction processing by managing high transaction volumes and ensuring fast, secure transaction flow. AggLayer complements the ZK rollup infrastructure, which helps Wirex Pay maintain high throughput and cost efficiency, essential for a decentralized payment platform handling significant transaction volumes​.

This technology reduces on-chain data processing, which lowers transaction costs and enhances privacy by allowing the network to verify transactions without revealing the underlying data. With Polygon’s ZK rollups, Wirex Pay achieves high scalability while preserving the privacy of its users, a critical feature for a decentralized payment platform designed to handle high transaction volumes.

Conclusion

Wirex Pay is a cutting-edge decentralized payment platform that combines blockchain technology with widely used traditional financial infrastructure to create a flexible and scalable solution for digital asset transactions. Through its integration with Visa and Mastercard, its users can use cryptocurrencies in a global network of businesses and points of sale by facilitating backend conversions to regular currency. This capability extends the practical use of digital assets in everyday purchases, bridging the gap between cryptocurrency and conventional financial systems.

The platform’s use of Polygon’s Zero-Knowledge (ZK) technology underscores its focus on privacy and scalability, enabling the network to handle high transaction volumes while minimizing costs. Wirex Pay’s governance structure, powered by the WPAY token, empowers token holders to actively participate in project decisions, promoting community-driven development. The WPAY token aids the network’s functionality, enabling staking, governance, and incentivizing decentralization through node operations. With future developments on the horizon, including the mainnet launch and enhanced staking options, Wirex Pay aims to solidify its position within the digital payments space by offering a comprehensive, user-centric ecosystem for Web3 transactions.