Zepz

Zepz is a London-based fintech group that operates two of the world's largest digital remittance brands — WorldRemit and Sendwave — and has expanded into blockchain-native payments through the Sendwave Wallet, a USDC stablecoin application built on Solana. The company's stated mission is to make cross-border money transfers fair, fast, and flexible for migrant communities worldwide, and its Solana integration represents the group's first foray into on-chain infrastructure as a supplement to its existing fiat rails.

Origins and Corporate Structure

WorldRemit was founded in 2010 by Ismail Ahmed, a former compliance advisor to the United Nations Development Programme, alongside Catherine Wines and Richard Igoe. The company grew by digitizing international money transfers that had previously depended on cash agents and wire services. In 2021, WorldRemit acquired Sendwave, a mobile-first remittance service specializing in transfers to Africa and Asia, and the combined group rebranded as Zepz. The Zepz brand now serves as the parent entity, with WorldRemit and Sendwave continuing to operate as distinct consumer-facing products.

Mark Lenhard was appointed Group CEO in August 2022, bringing more than two decades of payments experience from roles at PayPal, JPMorgan Chase, Invoice2go, and Bill.com, where he served as Chief Operating Officer prior to joining Zepz.

Scale and Market Position

Zepz processes over $15 billion in annual remittance volume across more than 130 countries and 5,000 money transfer corridors. WorldRemit enables users to send money online to 130+ countries through a mobile app, while Sendwave focuses on affordable, near-instant transfers to recipients in Africa and Asia. The company employs more than 800 people across multiple offices and represents over 80 nationalities on staff.

Zepz has raised more than $700 million in venture capital. Key rounds include a $292 million Series E in 2021, a $267 million Series F in October 2024 led by Accel, LeapFrog Investments, TCV, and the International Finance Corporation (a World Bank Group institution), and a $165 million growth financing facility secured in April 2025 led by HSBC Innovation Banking UK and HSBC Private Credit.

The Sendwave Wallet on Solana

In October 2025, Zepz launched the Sendwave Wallet — a consumer-facing digital wallet built on the Solana blockchain. The wallet allows users to open a digital dollar balance inside the existing Sendwave mobile app and to send, store, and spend USDC, the dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle.

The rationale for building on Solana centers on throughput and cost. Solana's settlement finality and low per-transaction fees make it practical for the small-value, high-frequency transfers that characterize remittance flows to the Global South. Lily Liu, president of the Solana Foundation, noted at launch that Zepz's vision can uniquely take place on Solana, pointing to the network's speed and scalability as differentiators for cross-border use cases.

Zepz first partnered with Circle in July 2024 to integrate USDC for backend settlement, reducing transaction times and improving liquidity management on its existing fiat corridors. The October 2025 Sendwave Wallet launch extended that infrastructure into a direct consumer product.

How the Sendwave Wallet Works

Users initiate a transfer or deposit within the Sendwave mobile app, funding their USDC balance via fiat on-ramps. From there they can:

• Send USDC peer-to-peer across more than 100 countries at near-instant speed
• Hold a dollar-denominated balance rather than converting immediately into local currency, giving recipients control over when and how they cash out
• Withdraw USDC into local fiat currency through Zepz's network of local partner providers

Future product additions announced at launch include payment card support, QR code payments, deposit rewards, and bill payment capabilities. Zepz has also disclosed plans to roll out stablecoin-linked Visa cards to Brazil in early 2026, with expansion to the United States, Canada, and Australia to follow.

Mark Lenhard, Zepz Group CEO, framed the product launch as a financial inclusion initiative: "With Sendwave Wallet, we're giving customers throughout the Global South a trusted, intuitive way to control their money." Kash Razzaghi, Chief Commercial Officer of Circle, described the integration as "putting the benefits of trusted digital dollars directly into the hands of communities."

Compliance and Risk Infrastructure

Zepz operates in a heavily regulated segment of financial services and has built corresponding compliance infrastructure around its stablecoin product. Since April 2025, TRM Labs has partnered with Zepz to design and implement the financial crime controls underpinning the Sendwave Wallet.

TRM provides blockchain intelligence capabilities integrated into Zepz's transaction monitoring stack, covering real-time activity surveillance, sanctions risk screening, anti-money laundering (AML) controls, and illicit activity identification. The partnership was publicly announced in March 2026, with TRM noting that its platform enables organizations to monitor activity in real time, manage risk exposure, and scale digital asset products.

Zaheer Jassat of Zepz described the compliance rationale: "Partnering with TRM strengthens our ability to manage risk responsibly and maintain robust safeguards across infrastructure." The integration positions the Sendwave Wallet to meet the regulatory expectations of the many jurisdictions in which Zepz is licensed to operate. WorldRemit Corp. is registered with NMLS ID 1179663 in the United States.

Ecosystem Fit

Zepz occupies an unusual position in the Solana ecosystem as a large, venture-backed, regulated fintech incumbent rather than a crypto-native startup. The company brings an established user base measured in tens of millions of transactions per year, existing correspondent banking relationships, and multi-jurisdictional payment licenses to the Solana network.

Its use of Solana is narrowly scoped: USDC settlement and consumer wallet functionality, not DeFi participation or native token issuance. Zepz has not issued a project token and does not engage in on-chain governance. The Sendwave Wallet is designed as a stablecoin payments product accessible to users who may have no prior crypto experience, with fiat on- and off-ramps handled through Zepz's existing partner network.

The remittance market Zepz operates in is estimated at roughly $1 trillion annually in cross-border flows, and stablecoin-based settlement is increasingly viewed as a mechanism to reduce the correspondent banking fees and multi-day settlement delays that characterize traditional wire transfers. Zepz's Solana integration is part of a broader industry shift toward blockchain rails for remittance corridors where recipients lack access to conventional banking infrastructure.