Firma: A Groundbreaking Financial Service for Global Payments and Remittances
According to a 2024 U.S. data on remittances, the remittance industry is $65B in the U.S. alone with an average fee of over 6%. Millions upon millions of expatriates move to a different country for work and send money back home to their families in a different country with a different currency.
Similarly, global payments have historically been an issue, with currency conversion fees being roughly 3% of a purchase. Credit cards have recently begun to offer no displayed currency conversion fee, but often times those fees are just hidden by giving a less generous exchange rate (i.e., effectively, hiding the 3% as a 3% lower exchange rate than the market rate).
Between these two services, sending money globally can be a costly endeavor. However, there are other factors as well such as speed to take into account. Most banks require approximately three days to clear a transaction, and some unscrupulous customers will abuse that system by performing chargebacks. In other words, it’s not really your money for days after you’re supposed to receive it. Instantaneous transactions, such as wire transfers, can cost $50 or more to expedite the clearing process.
You’d think that, in the year 2026, the industry would come up with a better, faster, cheaper solution to this. Enter Firma, the new financial service for global payments and remittances that aims to disrupt this market.
What Is Firma?
Firma is an app, now available on iOS and Android app stores, that allows you to deposit cash from a bank account, stablecoin, or card and send that money to anyone in the world instantaneously (within ~3 seconds). No holding periods, no cost, no additional steps. Just create your account, add money, and send to anyone anywhere instantly.
What Does Firma Offer?
Currently, Firma offers services in USD, CHF, and EUR. Sending money is free, while switching between currencies is a low 1% fee (as stated above, much lower than the 3% fee that is common in the industry). Sending money is as simple as scanning a QR code or sending to your contact’s Firma handle.
If this competitive speed, cost, and simplicity weren’t enough, it also offers rewards for balances at a variable rate (at the time of this article, over 6%). These rewards are delivered daily, so you effectively get paid for holding money on the Firma app. All balances are matched 1:1 with the equivalent fiat currency saved in insured banks so that you can withdraw your entire balance at any time.
How Can It Do All of This When Other Companies Don’t?
Firma can offer competitive prices because of the near-zero fee infrastructure that it is built on. Firma is a stablecoin service that operates on the eCash cryptocurrency network that has confirmation times of ~3 seconds and transaction fees of a fraction of a cent, enabling Firma to offer free, instantaneous transactions on it with its Firma stablecoin token. Other financial services firms have billions of dollars in expenses to manage their infrastructure, whereas the eCash network is a network of transaction-processing nodes that complete the transaction for a minimal feel and a block reward provided in XEC, the network’s cryptocurrency coin. Because of this competitive advantage, the speed, cost, and irreversibility of the network is nearly impossible to replicate.
What Is Next for Firma?
Firma is working with financial regulators in Switzerland (where it operates) to offer a variety of currencies and services to support global payments and remittances to customers in a variety of countries. While it is available to anyone now to send money to anyone anywhere in supported currencies today, additional legal work is being done to support other currencies.
Is There Anything Else that Potential Customers Should Know About Firma?
Here are some additional differentiators as stated directly from Firma’s X post:
(Source: https://x.com/firmacash/status/2079780483156603008)
7 things that make Firma different:
1) Firma USD is 100% cash-backed by @ereborbank and reserves are insured up to $285M . No lending. No rehypothecation. No cash equivalents.
Just pure, liquid cash backing every regulated stablecoin.
2) Our stablecoins (USD, CHF, EUR denominated) are unfreezable, unseizable and built of a Bitcoin proof-of-work (UTXO) blockchain. Truly decentralized finance.
3) You can get your own FREE virtual USD bank account in seconds. Send and receive ACH, Wire (and soon SWIFT) payments — domestically and internationally. Accounts are in your name!
(Subject to KYC and jurisdiction requirements)
4) Top up with or withdraw crypto via Firma’s licensed Swiss exchange.
Apple/Google Pay, PayPal, Binance, Coinbase, MoonPay, Revolut support coming shortly!
5) Sign up takes under 10 seconds. Choose a username. You’re live.
6) Transactions are instant and free. Send money for personal or business and the receiver gets it instantly in Swiss Francs, Euros or Dollars. No fees. Exchange currencies within 1% of live market rates with Firma’s Swiss licensed forex exchange. 24/7/365
7) Use FirmaPay to embed instant checkouts to your website, e-commerce store, or marketplace and let users pay with Firma. Transactions settle instantly. No chargebacks. No delays. You keep 100% of what you earn. Perfect as an alternative to Stripe. DM us if you want to get setup.
While Firma is new to the global payments and remittances space, rational consumers who absolutely must get money to their families in another country or currency would immediately see the cost, speed, and convenience benefits of Firma over alternative options. If you are interested in seeing whether Firma would be a better option for your global payments or remittances than what you have used in the past, check out the app on the Apple or Google Play stores or the website:
