Bitcoin Forum

I've recently read about Transferwise, which seems to be a website where you can have multiple currency accounts and simply get IBAN numbers from all sorts of countries to use!

I'm wondering if anyone knows if it's possible to open it without your own bank account !

I've been thinking about opening a company in Hong Kong online for a while, and the main drawback I see is having to travel there to open a bank account (travel prices are expensive, and I get very little traffic with my volume that wouldn't cover the expense).

Since companies can be opened in HK online without having to travel there, the next step is a bank account.

Is it possible to open a business Transferwise account without having your own company bank account?

Also, would I run into any legal trouble, by using a Hong Kong company to sell items bought from Chinese companies, in the EU and receiving money on the Transferwise EU IBANs?

You probably misunderstood Transferwise. You don't open bank accounts with the, you just use them to transfer money. I used Transferwise back in 2015 and 2016, so yes, it was possible to use without a bank account; not sure about now though. Saved quite a bit of money on fees plus they used rates with almost no spread. They don't accept Bitcoin or crypto so I've moved on to other services that do. In fact, most similar type services work exactly like that. Basically, when you want to transfer someone money, they give you THEIR IBAN and bank account... and you fund it (I used cash deposit and even cash over the counter). The reference number tells them it's your transaction. They then send the money to your destination account (again, from theirs).

What you might look for is what they call a neobank or challenger bank as they're called in the UK. Google to find them. I use Revolut myself, crypto friendly. NOT sure if they'll suit your purposes as they only really do p2p and not business accounts.

What I've meant is you get an IBAN when you sign up?
And do you already need to have a bank account in order to be able to open a Transferwise account :)

This sounds good so far :D
Just dunno if you can open it if you don't already have a bank account (for verification etc.)...

The verification comes after a limit (I don't remember well maybe 1500€ you can find it in their FAQ) The bank account will be needed when you will need a transfer out of course

But one thing I can tell you is that they don't accept anything related to cryptocurrency (if you're concerned). They confirmed to me by chat and by email as well

But I'll be able to receive payments to their IBAN and transfer it to other accounts without actually having a physical bank account?

Recently, one of their competitors Revolut announced their going to start offering credit cards with crypto cash-back benefits.

Not exactly a crypto account, but one step closer towards, yea?  ;D

Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't it look shady that you don't want to open a bank account yet like to reap it's benefits ? What's wrong with opening a bank account under your company's registration ? Too many red flags with the later part.It's not illegal, it's just raises suspicions as it makes people think "Why would you do that" ?

The problem is I have to travel to Hong Kong in order to open a bank account and a ticket overseas is quite expensive.
I once traveled to London to open an account with HSBC, we never heard back from them.
I'm thinking of the worst currently, paying a 1000$ for a plane ticket and not accomplishing anything.

bank account can't open use online system
you still need to go bank office, this mean need own bank account,
without own bank account very imposible can receive or send money, this mean transaction use bank

To answer your question above, you get an IBAN account, but not under your name, you get THEIR IBAN account no.! What you're looking for is probably something Revolut is closer to providing... which I use myself. You get your own IBAN with them.


How about Estonian e-residency then? You open a business in Estonia, completely recognised by the government and by the EU, you only need to collect it (the ID) in person - register a business along with whatever licences you need while you're at it. Or the cheaper route of engaging some other entity to do it for you (still will set you back several thousand euros though). Nothing shady about this.

More taxes in Estonia.

Do I really need a bank account with my name?  :D
I really don't lol

My question is will I be able to use transferwise if I don't have a bank account at all?

Yes you can... but you need to be aware that the receiver you are sending funds to will see that they are receiving funds from Transferwise bank account, not you.

Summary:
1. TW gives your their bank account. You give TW the receiver bank account.
2. You deposit money into TW account (cash deposit, whatever, you don't need a bank account). TW sends money to receiver account.

If that works for you...

P.S. This is how I used it two years ago. If things have changed, I wouldn't know. And as user above says, they're not accepting Bitcoin or crypto any more.

What OP is referring to is the TransferWise Borderless account (https://transferwise.com/gb/borderless/), which was introduced from last year I think.

From what I remember, you do not necessarily need to have a bank account prior to opening an account with them.
However, note that proof of identity and proof of address are both mandatory in order to join.

In addition to the borderless accounts, TransferWise has made its own debit/prepaid card which you can use everywhere Mastercard is accepted.

So If I am reading this right? there is no full service crypto/ Fiat bank?
Anywhere?

As in a bank you can seamlessly cross between crypto and fiat without going via another company?

Not to my knowledge. There are banks that are more friendly to incoming transactions relating to crypto than others, but no established bank anywhere directly deals in crypto to my knowledge. They wouldn't be very popular with their local regulator if they did.

That would make them a crypto exchange.

@iluvbitcoins Just to let you know if you didn't already.
In Estonia, you don't pay any tax as long the money stays on the business account. You only pay if you pay to yourself a dividend (which can be done only after 1 year of activity) or a salary (in this case they apply a 80/20 ratio)

That would have been easier if banks tried to use cryptocurrencies to move their client's money around the world. They would even not need to hold anything.

Ughh, just found out Hong Kong doesn't have a double taxation agreement with Croatia..
So the entire plan makes no sense  :-[

Bittrex is going to start trades with USD pairs,so if that's what you're asking? There's kraken also I believe which has fiat pairs and GDAX as well. There were ICOs having such ideas and stuff,don't know where they are or what they ended up doing. :-\

Yes we are one, a new one.
We launch 1.7.2018 and have the banks ready to buy in friendly countries.
We will offer a full service bank.

Maybe you were asking the wrong question? The first question should be why you were thinking about HK to register a company. HK used to be good, but it has become a very expensive place to do business. Start-ups shall look elsewhere...

Regarding Transferwise, note that it isn't worldwide. I tried to use it, but it could send money to the country where I'm banking.