Did Epstein and Thiel fund Wise? And which ethical alternatives exist?

This is fairly off topic compared to my usual posting schedule, but I figured it was still worth sharing.

Yesterday I read about how Jeffrey Epstein was one of the early funders of Wise (previously known as Transfer Wise), this was through Valar Ventures, the VC fund operated by Peter Thiel.

This came out through good journalists doing decent work trawling through the latest releases of the Epstein Files. You can read about this (note there is a paywall) in the NY Times here. A good alternative, which has no such paywall, is Byline Times' story here.

If you go to the Valar Ventures website you can see them clearly listing Wise as one of their investments, amongst various others in the financial tech sector. Valar state on their website "We invest in high-margin, fast-growing financial technology companies across the globe."

Apparently Wise performed very well financially, and so now it is one of the biggest earners for the Epstein Estate. From the Byline Times story above:

The scale of Epstein’s investment in Valar Ventures grew significantly. The original $15 million commitment turned into some $40 million.

Epstein’s stake is now worth approximately $170 million – making it the largest single asset in Epstein’s estate, according to estate filings.

Being a previously happy customer of Wise for many years, this wasn't nice news to learn of, but hardly a big surprise, based on how VC funds, the world of Silicon Valley, and Capitalism all merge together.

But it leads to the question - are there any ethical alternatives to Wise?

What can we use instead of Wise, if we don't want to continue to help fund sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein's Estate? Or to be assisting Peter Thiel in his quest to take over the world (which has begun by targeting the NHS in the UK, thanks to the Labour Party).

Ethical Alternatives to Wise

Before suggesting any alternative to Wise - it's probably important to understand why people like myself were using Wise to begin with.

For me, Wise allowed me to send and receive money, across borders, avoiding big (traditional) banking fees. This is partly why Wise has succeeded, I think, because it was an alternative to the old fashioned banking system.

For someone like myself (who receives payments from clients based around the world), being able to have them pay into a virtual bank account in their local currency I think made my client's lives easier, and would have saved me money (and stress).

But importantly: everyone's reasons for using Wise will be slightly different! So you might have a quite specific use-case in which case some of the recommended alternatives aren't quite right for you. Some people love Wise because they live as a digital nomad and have no fixed abode.

For me personally - I will be looking to see if I can just ask clients to pay into a local bank account I use (in my case, here in Spain), and if it takes longer to receive payment, or if there are fees involved, then I just have to accept it - at least I'm not supporting and funding Wise any more.

Alternative 1 - Your Local Bank

Sorry to include this but it is worth re-considering - is there any way you can make use of your current, local bank, and to request or send payments from there instead of using Wise?

Hopefully you are already using a bank that is aligned with your own personal values (Triodos bank is always a name that comes up in this area), and maybe by allowing for any of their faults, you can instead try to support them?

Alternative 2 - Revolut

I was reluctant to include Revolut as I'm not clear of who funds them (there are a lot of backers, and so many groups to analyse, and so I'm sure they won't all have a "clean" profile) - but in this space it seems looking for ethical alternatives to Wise is a bit like picking the best of a bad bunch.

According to the Good Shopping Guide Revolut aren't great for the environment due to issues around carbon emissions and a lack of disclosure or using reduction targets.

And this leads us to the sad question of - would you rather use an online bank that is bad for the environment, or one that funds sex offenders?

Alternative 3 - Monzo

Another bank in a similar vibe to Wise is that of Monzo - considered a high street challenger bank with a strong online presence.

From some quick checks it doesn't appear to be linked to Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Thiel, although it does have connections with Blackrock. Thiel was actually investing in N26, a German fintech that was considered a competitor to Monzo at one point.

Ethical Consumer give Monzo a fairly decent rating but they do flag lots of valid environmental concerns, and that their highest earning director was paid over £1.5 million in 2024 (considered a bit excessive!).

Alternative 4 - Remitly

A connection on LinkedIn mentioned Remitly to me as a potential good alternative to Wise, and from some basic first checks it seems decent enough, in terms of not having connections to Thiel or Epstein, and being a legit online banking service.

Being a publicly traded company, some of it's funding rounds have raised over $300 million, from the likes of World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC), Viola Funds, OurCrowd, and Glilot Capital.

Again, it's hard for me to dig in to discover if these groups have dodgy connections (the more time you spend looking though, the more likely you are to find something!) but for now I will keep them listed as an option.

Other Alternatives to Wise

I genuinely don't know of any good, legit alternative to Wise right now... but if you do know of any, feel free to reach out. I'd love to find some that are actually aligned with (most) people's values - not wanting to fund sex offenders, or destroying the environment.