iGaming Payment Solutions
Thunes ReviewIs It the Right Payment Solution for Your iGaming Business?
Adequate
Thunes is a Singapore-based cross-border payout network — 140 countries, 90 currencies, direct connections to 4 billion mobile wallets, 8 billion bank accounts and 15 billion cards. Founded 2016, $362M raised across 5 rounds ($150M Series D in April 2025), 507 employees, 2024 revenue $100M. Clients include Uber, Deliveroo, Grab, PayPal, Remitly, plus Visa and Mastercard both routing stablecoin payouts through Thunes since November 2025. For iGaming the picture is narrower: no gambling licenses, no SoftSwiss or EveryMatrix connectors, no built-in deposit acquiring for casinos. The iGaming relevance came through the Tilia acquisition (April 2024, closed June 2025) which handles online gaming and virtual world payments in the US, primarily Second Life's $500M creator economy. Use Thunes as a payout specialist alongside a real iGaming PSP, not as a replacement for one.
Quick Info
iGaming Score
Our iGaming Score: 6.0/10
Weighted scoring across six criteria
| Criterion | Weight | Score | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| iGaming Fit No gambling licenses. No SoftSwiss/EveryMatrix connectors. iGaming relevance is via Tilia (Second Life virtual worlds) and player payouts to emerging markets | 25% | 3.5 | Weak |
| Geographic Coverage 140 countries, 90 currencies. Deepest in markets others struggle with: Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, LATAM. Newer corridors: Nordic Pay-to-Bank, China via UnionPay | 20% | 10.0 | Best-in-class |
| Security & Compliance MAS MPI, FCA, ACPR, FinCEN, all 50 US states, HK MSO. 50+ licenses. PCI DSS, ISO 27001. Fortress Compliance Platform for real-time KYC/AML | 20% | 6.5 | Adequate |
| Fees & Pricing Custom B2B pricing only. No published rate card. Differentiator is transparent FX (no hidden spreads) and zero correspondent-bank markup | 15% | 5.5 | Adequate |
| Tech & Integration REST API, sandbox, 2-6 week integration. No official mobile SDKs. Swift connectivity option for the 11,500 banks already on Swift | 10% | 5.0 | Adequate |
| User Trust 14 Trustpilot reviews, too small to be meaningful. Glassdoor 3.2/5 from 67 employee reviews. B2B clients don't review on consumer sites | 10% | 5.0 | Adequate |
| Overall | 100% | 6.0 | Adequate |
We score each provider on six criteria using a 1 to 10 scale. iGaming Fit carries the most weight at 25% because that is what matters most for gambling operators. Geographic Coverage gets 20%. Security and Compliance, Fees and Pricing, and Tech and Integration each get 15%. User Trust rounds it out at 10%. The final score is a weighted average of all six.
Score Explanation
Geographic Coverage and Security are the strongest dimensions and reflect what Thunes actually is — an emerging-market payout infrastructure backed by an unusually deep licensing portfolio. The 50-state US money transmitter coverage was secured in 2025 alongside the Series D, FinCEN registration is in place, MAS/FCA/ACPR cover the major non-US jurisdictions. iGaming Fit is the weak spot and the reason this provider does not score like Nuvei or Paysafe. Thunes has no MGA, UKGC, Curacao or Isle of Man gambling license. No SoftSwiss or EveryMatrix connectors. No native sportsbook tooling. The Tilia acquisition adds 'online gaming' to the resume, but Tilia's actual product is Second Life-style virtual world payments and creator economy disbursements, not casino or sportsbook acquiring. Fees scores low because there's no published pricing — every deal is custom, comparable to Nuvei in opacity, harder to benchmark than Solidgate or NOWPayments. User Trust on 14 Trustpilot reviews is statistically meaningless.
Who Is Thunes Best For?
Weighted scoring across six criteria
Recommended For
Cross-border payouts to emerging markets. Operators paying out to players in Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, MENA or LATAM where correspondent-bank rails fail. Thunes connects directly to M-Pesa, GCash, JazzCash, Easypaisa, MTN, Airtel, Orange and 140+ other mobile wallet brands. 90% of transactions land instantly. Inpay covers 90+ countries and is the closest comparison, but Inpay's strength is bank rails in Europe — Thunes goes deeper in markets that aren't bank-first.
Operators paying out in stablecoins. Operators ready to push withdrawals in USDC or USDT. Pay-to-Stablecoin-Wallets launched October 2025 covers 130+ countries with real-time payouts. Mastercard Move and Visa Direct both route their stablecoin payouts through Thunes (November 2025). For crypto-friendly casinos or creator-economy gaming platforms, this is one of the few regulated rails into stablecoin wallets at network scale.
US-licensed gaming via Tilia. Online gaming platforms similar to Second Life — virtual worlds, creator economies, in-app purchases, marketplaces with player-to-player payments. Tilia (now Thunes) processes 1.6M transactions per day for Second Life and is licensed in 48 US states. The exclusive 5-year partnership with Linden Lab through 2030 keeps Tilia's gaming flows on Thunes infrastructure. If your platform's economy looks more like Roblox or Sandbox than like Bet365, this fits.
Mobile wallet-heavy player bases. Multi-region operators whose pain is paying players in 30+ countries, not accepting their deposits. Cards via Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, JCB and Amex (via Tilia) cover the developed-world payout side. Mobile wallets cover the rest. One contract replaces 5-10 regional payout vendors. The deposit side still needs Nuvei, Paysafe or a regional PSP.
Not Recommended For
Casinos that need deposit acquiring. Operators looking for a card acquirer to take deposits on their casino or sportsbook site. Thunes is a payout-first network. Tilia adds card acceptance in the US but it's positioned for virtual-world commerce, not regulated gambling acquiring. For card deposits on a licensed iGaming site, Nuvei, Paysafe, Solidgate or Worldpay are the realistic options.
MGA/UKGC compliance baked in. Operators that need their PSP to hold gambling-specific licenses. Thunes has 50+ financial licenses but zero gambling licenses. No MGA, no UKGC, no Curacao, no Isle of Man, no US state gambling licenses. Nuvei holds MGA, UKGC, Isle of Man and US state gambling licenses simultaneously. If your compliance team needs the PSP to share regulatory cover, Thunes isn't it.
SoftSwiss-platform operators. Teams running SoftSwiss, EveryMatrix, Bragg, Altenar, BetConstruct or Slotegrator and expecting a plug-in connector. None exists. Custom integration only against the REST API. Nuvei has connectors for all six platforms, Paysafe has four. PayRetailers has two for SoftSwiss and Slotegrator. Thunes has none.
Startups under $500k/month. Small operators below $500k monthly. This is built for enterprise B2B clients — banks, large fintechs, super-apps, MTOs. Custom pricing means leverage matters and a small operator has none. NOWPayments has no minimum, AstroPay starts at $100k, Inpay at $150k.
Operators sensitive to payout reliability complaints. The 14-review Trustpilot sample skews negative on consumer transfers showing as completed but not arriving. For B2B network operations the SLA is 99.99% uptime with full transaction visibility — but if your players are interacting with Thunes-branded rails directly, brand sentiment is mixed.
Geographic Coverage
Supported regions and market focus
Regions
Coverage Analysis
140 countries through direct connections, 90 currencies. The actual differentiator versus an iGaming PSP is depth in emerging markets. Sub-Saharan Africa connects through Kenya (M-Pesa), Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana and another two dozen markets with mobile wallet rails. Southeast Asia covers the Philippines (GCash), Pakistan (JazzCash, Easypaisa), Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh. MENA is well-served. LATAM reaches Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Chile through local rails — though for LATAM-specific iGaming deposits, AstroPay and PayRetailers go deeper on player-side recognition. Europe gained Nordic Pay-to-Bank in June 2025 (Denmark, Norway, Sweden). China access opened up via UnionPay in January 2026. North America is supported with native card acceptance via Tilia.
Regional Breakdown
The geographic spread reflects Thunes' origin story. The company emerged from TransferTo, a mobile top-up specialist founded 2005, so the network was built where mobile money matters — Africa, Southeast Asia, parts of LATAM and MENA. That gives Thunes a structural advantage when the player base lives in markets where bank penetration is below 50% and mobile wallets are the primary financial endpoint. Europe is competent but not where the differentiation lies. Inpay covers Europe better. Trustly dominates European open banking. Nuvei has more local acquiring in regulated EU iGaming markets like Malta, the UK and Germany. For an operator whose top-10 payout markets include Kenya, Nigeria, Philippines, Pakistan or Vietnam, Thunes is one of two realistic providers (the other being Nium). For an operator whose markets are 90% UK, Germany, Sweden and Italy, Thunes is overkill and not the natural pick.
Key Features for iGaming Operators
Products, payment methods, and verticals
Key Products
Direct Global Network, Pay-to-Wallets, Pay-to-Banks, Pay-to-Cards, Pay-to-Stablecoin-Wallets, Pay-by-QR, Thunes Collections
Five payout endpoints under one Direct Global Network. Pay-to-Wallets reaches 145 mobile wallet brands and 4 billion wallet accounts. Pay-to-Banks covers 130+ countries with real-time delivery in supported corridors. Pay-to-Cards (launched October 2024) pushes money to Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay cards globally. Pay-to-Stablecoin-Wallets (October 2025) handles USDC and USDT payouts in 130+ countries. Pay-by-QR enables foreign mobile wallets to access China's QR-payment economy. The Thunes Collections side (formerly Limonetik, acquired and rebranded) handles inbound payments. Fortress Compliance Platform sits underneath all of it for real-time KYC, AML, sanctions and risk scoring. Most relevant to iGaming: the payout endpoints, which can be embedded into a casino or sportsbook withdrawal flow as a single integration replacing multiple regional payout vendors.
Payment Methods
300+ payment methods across the network. The composition matters: 220+ direct connections plus another 300+ APMs available through partnerships. The standout layer is 145 mobile wallet brands including M-Pesa, GCash, Alipay, WeChat Pay HK, JazzCash, MTN, Airtel and Orange. Cards came via Tilia (Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, Amex, JCB acceptance) and via the Pay-to-Cards push solution launched October 2024. Stablecoins (USDC and USDT) joined the payout endpoint set in October 2025. Nuvei lists 720+ methods, Paysafe 260+. Headline numbers are not directly comparable — Nuvei's 720+ is heavily weighted toward European and LATAM card alternatives, while Thunes is mobile-wallet and stablecoin heavy with much deeper coverage in markets where the rest of the field thins out. For player payouts to Kenya, Pakistan, the Philippines or Nigeria specifically, Thunes is a better fit than any traditional iGaming PSP.
Verticals
B2B payment infrastructure for banks, MTOs, PSPs, fintechs, super-apps and gig-economy platforms. Online gaming entered the public roadmap with the Tilia acquisition but specifically means virtual worlds, creator economies and in-app purchases, not casino or sportsbook. Notable named clients include Uber, Deliveroo, Grab, WeChat, PayPal, Remitly, Visa, Mastercard, Circle. The product team's priorities are payouts to emerging markets, stablecoin integration and card-network partnerships — not gambling-specific tooling. Operators using Thunes for iGaming are almost always running it as a payout layer alongside a primary PSP that handles licensed gambling deposits.
| Feature | Status | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Deposit Processing | 300+ payment methods per official profile. 220+ direct connections, 550+ APMs via partnerships. 145 mobile wallet brands including M-Pesa, GCash, Alipay, WeChat Pay HK, JazzCash, MTN, Airtel, Orange. payment methods, Instant (Collections) | |
| Withdrawal / Payout | Real-time (90% of tx) | |
| Instant Withdrawals | Real-time (90% of tx) | |
| KYC / AML Built-in | Full auto (Fortress) | |
| Chargeback Protection | N/A (payout-first) | |
| Multi-Currency | 90 fiat, USDC, USDT | |
| API Integration | REST API | |
| Local Payment Methods | 300+ payment methods per official profile. 220+ direct connections, 550+ APMs via partnerships. 145 mobile wallet brands including M-Pesa, GCash, Alipay, WeChat Pay HK, JazzCash, MTN, Airtel, Orange. methods across multiple categories | |
| iGaming Specialization | 140 countries, 4B wallets + 8B banks + 15B cards, real-time stablecoin payouts | |
| Geographic Coverage | 140 countries across Asia-Pacific, Africa, Latin America, Middle East, Europe, North America |
Pricing & Fee Structure
Fee structure and pricing model
Pricing & Fee Structure
Custom B2B pricing model
Custom
Custom
Real-time to T+1
300+ payment methods per official profile. 220+ direct connections, 550+ APMs via partnerships. 145 mobile wallet brands including M-Pesa, GCash, Alipay, WeChat Pay HK, JazzCash, MTN, Airtel, Orange.
Transparent (corridor-level)
N/A
N/A
No
Pricing Details
All custom B2B pricing. No published rate card, no per-transaction or per-corridor public benchmarks. Thunes' pitch is transparency at the FX layer rather than published rates: real-time FX with no hidden spreads, quote-locked rates valid for one hour, full visibility on the conversion cost before the transaction is confirmed. The structural cost advantage is what Thunes replaces — a Swift wire transfer typically eats $25-$75 in correspondent-bank fees per transaction plus 2-5 day settlement. By routing through direct local connections, Thunes eliminates those intermediaries. For an operator pushing 50,000 monthly cross-border payouts averaging $200 each, the per-transaction unit cost lands materially below traditional banking rails. The opacity is the issue. Solidgate publishes rates starting at 0.3-0.8% plus acquiring. NOWPayments runs flat 0.5-1% on crypto. Trustly charges operators 0-1% for European A2A. With Thunes you'll know your rate after RFP and contract negotiation, not before. Min volume isn't publicly disclosed either, but G2 reviewers reference deployments at 300k+ transactions per month, which suggests this is aimed at the enterprise tier. Current pricing approach, May 2026.
Negotiation Tips
Run a parallel RFP with Nium, Airwallex and Inpay before committing. All three target similar use cases at the enterprise tier and Nium publishes more aggressive rate guidance. Ask Thunes for a corridor-specific rate card, not a blended rate — the per-corridor economics vary widely. Mobile wallet payouts in Kenya cost different from Pay-to-Bank in Sweden. Push for a written FX spread quote (target 0.3-0.7% on majors, 1-2% on emerging-market currencies). The Swift connectivity option matters if your treasury bank is already on Swift — it removes the integration cost on your side and gives leverage in negotiation. Don't assume 'enterprise pricing' means uncompetitive; the headline rates for high-volume corridors are typically below Inpay's posted ranges, especially in Africa and Southeast Asia.
Speed & Settlement
Transaction processing and settlement timelines
Instant (Collections)
Player-initiatedReal-time (90% of tx)
Operator payoutReal-time to T+1
To operator accountMulti-currency (90 currencies, 30+ for business payments)
Settlement options90% of payouts are instant in the supported corridors. Network uptime sits at 99.99% with a 98% transaction success rate. Real-time pay-to-bank covers 130+ countries, and the new Nordic Pay-to-Bank (Denmark, Norway, Sweden) joined in June 2025. Pay-to-Stablecoin-Wallets are real-time 24/7 in USDC and USDT. The remaining 10% of transactions go through corridors that still rely on local clearing windows — these still resolve same-day or next-day in most cases with full status visibility via webhook. For an iGaming payout use case, this is significantly faster than the T+2 to T+7 settlement period Nuvei lists for operator-side settlement. Where Thunes is slower than Brite or Trustly is on the European deposit-and-instant-refund flow, which isn't part of Thunes' core product. Settlement to the operator's Thunes balance happens in real-time for funded accounts. Refund mechanics on push-payment rails are different from card flows — once a payout settles, there's no automatic reversal path, which is structurally protective against chargebacks but means erroneous payouts have to be recovered through the receiving bank or wallet.
Integration & Tech
Developer experience and technical capabilities
API Type
REST API
Onboarding
Few weeks
Sandbox
Full pre-production environment with Transaction Status Simulation API for testing transaction status flows. IPSec VPN or HTTPS access. IP whitelisting available.
Mobile SDK
No
White-Label
Yes — API-first network designed for banks/fintechs to embed payouts under their own brand. Business Hub dashboard for operations.
Docs Quality
Good
2-6 weeks
Integration Assessment
REST API only. Money Transfer API v2 is the current version, v1 still documented for legacy integrations. TLS 1.2+ minimum, IPSec VPN or HTTPS connectivity. Transaction flow is three steps: quotation (FX rate locked for the duration), transaction creation (with optional document upload depending on the destination corridor), confirmation (deducts source balance). Webhook callbacks for status updates. Sandbox with a Transaction Status Simulation API for testing all transaction states. IP whitelisting available. No official mobile SDKs, no language-specific SDKs. The community samples are a single Go repo and an unmaintained Python package. Docs at docs.thunes.com are good but Postman-quality is below what Nuvei or Solidgate provides. Integration runs 2-6 weeks depending on corridor complexity. September 2025 added a Swift connectivity option that lets banks on the existing Swift network access Thunes payouts with zero additional integration — relevant for operators whose banks would otherwise need to add a new API.
Risk & Compliance
Licensing, fraud prevention, and regulatory compliance
Compliance Context
PCI DSS and ISO 27001 certified. Fortress Compliance Platform handles real-time KYC/AML, sanctions screening and PEP checks embedded in every transaction (not batch). Dynamic risk scoring adjusts to context, behavioral analytics and multi-data-point scoring run continuously. The licensing stack covers 50+ jurisdictions — MAS Major Payment Institution in Singapore, FCA Authorised Payment Institution in the UK, ACPR Payment Institution in France (which extends to the entire EU), Hong Kong MSO, FinCEN MSB registration in the US and Money Transmitter licenses in all 50 US states secured in 2025. Zero gambling licenses though. Operators with MGA or UKGC requirements need to layer Thunes underneath a properly licensed PSP, not use it as the licensed entity. Fortress is used in production by PayPal, Circle, Uber and Grab, which is a different kind of validation than iGaming-specific compliance experience.
About Thunes: Company Background
Company and product information
Company History
Origins trace to TransferTo, a Singapore mobile top-up company founded in 2005. In 2016 TransferTo split into DT One (mobile top-ups and rewards) and Thunes (cross-border payments). Eric Barbier and Peter De Caluwe were co-founders. The early thesis: emerging-market payment rails were broken, correspondent banking was expensive and slow, mobile wallets were leapfrogging traditional banking in Africa and Southeast Asia. Building direct connections to local rails — banks, mobile wallets, postal networks — was the alternative.
Series A in 2019, Series B in 2021, Series C in July 2023 ($72M at a $900M+ valuation), Series D in April 2025 ($150M at an undisclosed but higher valuation, led by Apis Partners and Vitruvian Partners). Investor cap table includes Visa, Bessemer Venture Partners, Insight Partners, Marshall Wace, EDBI, GGV Capital, Checkout.com and Helios Investment Partners. Total raised: $362M across 5 rounds. Acquisitions: Limonetik (rebranded to Thunes Collections, pay-ins), Tilia (April 2024, online gaming and virtual worlds, closed June 2025).
Current state: Floris de Kort is CEO, Chloé Mayenobe became Deputy CEO in December 2025. Roughly 507 employees as of March 2026 across Singapore HQ, London, Paris, Shanghai, Beijing, Dubai, Hong Kong, Barcelona, Miami and Nairobi. 2024 revenue was $100M. The October 2025 Mastercard partnership for stablecoin payouts and the March 2026 Swift integration for banks on the Swift network are recent strategic moves. iGaming exposure is growing through Tilia and Pay-to-Stablecoin-Wallets, but Thunes still hasn't acquired or applied for gambling licenses. The product roadmap reads more like 'global payment rail' than 'iGaming PSP'.
What Users Say: Trustpilot & Review Analysis
Our analysis of 14 reviews from Trustpilot and industry sources
Trustpilot Presence
Notable Clients
PayPal, Uber, Deliveroo, Grab, WeChat, Remitly, Visa, Mastercard, Circle
Uber, Deliveroo, Grab, WeChat, PayPal, Remitly, Visa, Mastercard, Circle. Tilia's pre-acquisition client base centered on Linden Lab's Second Life economy (1.6M transactions per day, $500M annual creator economy). The named clients are the upper tier of fintech and gig-economy companies. For iGaming specifically Thunes does not publish named operator clients — the iGaming relevance is largely indirect (payout infrastructure used by operators alongside another primary PSP, or via the Tilia gaming subsidiary for virtual-world platforms).
Operational Details
Business terms, contracts, and support
Acquired Tilia (Linden Lab subsidiary, online gaming/virtual worlds) Apr 2024, closed Jun 2025. Tilia processes 1.6M tx/day for Second Life economy and is licensed in 48 US states. Series D ($150M) closed Apr 2025 — total funding $362M across 5 rounds, Series C valuation $900M (post-D valuation undisclosed). 2024 revenue $100M. Mastercard and Visa both route stablecoin payouts through Thunes (Nov 2025). Floris de Kort is CEO; Chloé Mayenobe became Deputy CEO Dec 2025.
Frequently Asked Questions
10 questions about Thunes
Not in the traditional sense. Thunes is a cross-border payout infrastructure provider with no gambling licenses, no SoftSwiss or EveryMatrix connectors and no card-acquiring product designed for licensed casinos or sportsbooks. The iGaming relevance comes through the Tilia subsidiary (acquired April 2024) which handles online gaming and virtual world payments — primarily Second Life's $500M creator economy. iGaming operators typically use Thunes as a payout layer alongside a primary PSP like Nuvei or Paysafe.
Not as a standalone solution for regulated gambling. Thunes Collections (formerly Limonetik) handles pay-ins for general B2B commerce. Tilia adds card acceptance for virtual-world payments in the US. Neither is positioned for taking deposits on an MGA or UKGC-licensed casino site. For casino deposits you need Nuvei, Paysafe, Solidgate, Worldpay or a similar PSP with gambling-specific acquiring.
All custom B2B pricing. No published rate card. The differentiation is on FX transparency — real-time rates with no hidden spreads, quote-locked rates valid for one hour, no correspondent-bank fees of $25-$75 per transaction. For high-volume payout flows in emerging markets the per-transaction cost typically lands below traditional banking rails, but the exact rate is RFP-dependent. Solidgate (0.3-0.8%), NOWPayments (0.5-1%) and Trustly (0-1% Europe A2A) all publish more transparent pricing.
90% of transactions are instant in the supported corridors. Network uptime 99.99%, transaction success rate 98%. Pay-to-Bank is real-time in 130+ countries, Pay-to-Stablecoin-Wallets is 24/7 real-time, Pay-to-Wallets settles in real time on 85% of mobile transactions. The remaining 10% land same-day or next-day. This is significantly faster than the T+2-T+7 operator-side settlement on Nuvei or Worldpay.
140 countries, 90 currencies. Deepest in markets where correspondent-banking rails fail: Sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana), Southeast Asia (Philippines, Pakistan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh), MENA, LATAM (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Chile). Nordic Pay-to-Bank (Denmark, Norway, Sweden) added June 2025. China access via UnionPay added January 2026. North America covered via Tilia card acceptance.
Yes. Pay-to-Stablecoin-Wallets launched October 2025 covers USDC and USDT in 130+ countries with real-time 24/7 delivery. Circle is the lead stablecoin partner (Circle Payments Network member). Visa Direct and Mastercard Move both route their stablecoin payouts through Thunes since November 2025. For broader altcoin coverage (350+ coins) NOWPayments is the alternative.
50+ financial licenses. MAS Major Payment Institution (Singapore), FCA Authorised Payment Institution (UK), ACPR Payment Institution (France/EU), Hong Kong MSO, FinCEN MSB plus Money Transmitter in all 50 US states (secured 2025). PCI DSS and ISO 27001 certified. Zero gambling licenses — no MGA, no UKGC, no Curacao, no Isle of Man, no US state gambling licenses. Operators that need their PSP to share gambling-regulatory cover should pick Nuvei or Paysafe instead.
Inpay is more iGaming-native: Danish FSA triple-licensed, supports MGA/UKGC/Curacao operators, named Power50 iGaming client base (888, Betsson, Lottoland, Netbet), SoftSwiss and EveryMatrix connectors, $150k minimum. Thunes goes wider on geography (140 countries vs 90+), deeper on mobile wallets and stablecoins, and has 50-state US licensing that Inpay doesn't. Choose Inpay for iGaming-specific operations in Europe and global bank rails. Choose Thunes for emerging-market mobile wallet payouts and stablecoin rails.
2-6 weeks against the REST API. Three-step transaction flow: quotation, creation, confirmation. Sandbox with Transaction Status Simulation API for testing all states. No official mobile or language SDKs — REST only. The September 2025 Swift connectivity option lets banks already on Swift access Thunes payouts with zero additional integration, which can collapse the timeline materially. Onboarding adds another couple of weeks for KYB and compliance review through the Fortress Compliance Platform.
Thunes signed the agreement to acquire Tilia from Linden Lab (Second Life's parent) in April 2024 for an undisclosed price. Deal closed June 2025. Tilia is licensed in 48 US states for online gaming, virtual worlds and creator economy payments. The acquisition came with an exclusive 5-year partnership where Thunes provides payment processing and payouts for Linden Lab through 2030. Tilia processes 1.6M transactions per day for Second Life's $500M creator economy. The combined entity now offers Visa, Mastercard, Amex, JCB and UnionPay acceptance — primarily positioned for virtual-world commerce, not regulated casino acquiring.
Our Verdict: Should You Use Thunes?
Final assessment for iGaming operators
Overall iGaming Score
Summary
Thunes is a strong cross-border payout network and a weak iGaming PSP. The 140-country footprint, the depth in emerging-market mobile wallets, the stablecoin payout rail and the 50-state US money transmitter coverage are all genuinely differentiated capabilities. But there are no gambling licenses, no platform connectors, no casino deposit acquiring and no published evidence of a meaningful iGaming operator client base. For an iGaming operation, Thunes is a useful addition to the payout stack — particularly for player withdrawals in Africa, Southeast Asia or LATAM, or for emerging stablecoin payout flows — but it sits alongside a primary PSP rather than replacing one.
Strongest Point
Emerging-market depth that no traditional iGaming PSP matches. 145 mobile wallet brands including M-Pesa, GCash, JazzCash and Alipay. Direct local rails in 140 countries. Real-time stablecoin payouts in USDC and USDT, with Mastercard Move and Visa Direct both running their stablecoin payouts through Thunes. For an operator whose top withdrawal markets are Kenya, Nigeria, Philippines or Pakistan, there's no better network. The 50-state US licensing and Fortress Compliance Platform give it the regulatory backbone to scale into US gaming flows via Tilia.
Key Limitation
No gambling licenses, no iGaming platform connectors, no casino deposit acquiring. The Tilia acquisition adds 'online gaming' to the product profile but in practice means virtual-world creator economy payments, not casino or sportsbook. Pricing is fully custom with no published guidance, which limits negotiation leverage for sub-$500k/month operators. Trustpilot reputation is thin and skews negative; Glassdoor surfaces churn signals. None of this disqualifies Thunes from an enterprise payout stack — but it disqualifies Thunes from being your primary iGaming PSP.
Recommendation
Use Thunes as a payout layer alongside Nuvei, Paysafe or Solidgate, not instead of them. The strongest case is an operator running multi-region withdrawals where Africa, Southeast Asia or LATAM mobile wallet payouts are a real volume driver. Add Thunes for those corridors plus the stablecoin rail. Keep your primary PSP for deposits, card acquiring and gambling-license alignment. For European-only iGaming operations, Inpay or Trustly probably fit better. For US-regulated gambling, the Tilia subsidiary plus a separate licensed PSP is one workable architecture. Run a parallel RFP with Nium and Inpay before signing. May 2026.
Pros
- Deepest mobile-wallet network among general-purpose payment infrastructure. 145 mobile wallet brands including M-Pesa, GCash, Alipay, WeChat Pay HK, JazzCash, MTN, Airtel and Orange. For player payouts in Africa, Southeast Asia and parts of LATAM, this isn't matched by any iGaming-focused PSP. Nuvei covers these regions but not with the same depth on mobile rails.
- Stablecoin payout rail at network scale. USDC and USDT payouts launched October 2025, covering 130+ countries, 24/7 real-time. Visa Direct and Mastercard Move both route their stablecoin payouts through Thunes — that's the same infrastructure two of the largest card networks chose. NOWPayments is the crypto-native alternative but doesn't carry that level of partner validation.
- Licensed in 50 US states plus FinCEN MSB registration, MAS Major Payment Institution, FCA, ACPR, HK MSO. Roughly 50 financial licenses total. The licensing footprint is comparable to Nuvei's, although Nuvei adds the gambling-specific licenses Thunes doesn't have. For non-gambling regulatory cover the depth is real.
- Real-time processing on 90% of transactions with 99.99% uptime and 98% transaction success rate. Compared to operator-side settlement at T+2-T+7 on traditional PSPs, the payout-side velocity is a clear advantage. Player withdrawals don't sit in pending queues for days.
- Single API replaces 5-10 regional payout vendors. Pay-to-Wallet, Pay-to-Bank, Pay-to-Card, Pay-to-Stablecoin-Wallet, Pay-by-QR all consolidate under one integration. For an operator currently running Skrill, AstroPay, M-Pesa direct, a Latin American local provider, a Southeast Asian local provider and a stablecoin gateway separately, the consolidation argument is strong.
- Swift connectivity bridge (September 2025) lets the 11,500 banks on the Swift network access Thunes payouts without adding a new API. For operators whose treasury bank is already on Swift, the integration friction on the bank's side disappears.
Cons
- Zero gambling licenses. No MGA, UKGC, Curacao, Isle of Man or US state gambling licenses. Thunes holds payment institution licenses but those don't substitute for gambling-specific regulatory cover. Operators that need their PSP to share compliance burden under MGA or UKGC have to layer Thunes underneath a properly licensed gambling PSP.
- Not a card acquirer for casino or sportsbook deposits. Pay-to-Cards is a push-payment rail (OCT, Visa Direct, Mastercard Move) for sending money to cards, not for accepting card deposits on a gambling site. Tilia adds card acceptance in the US but positioned for virtual-world commerce, not regulated iGaming acquiring. You still need a separate PSP for deposits.
- Zero iGaming platform connectors. No SoftSwiss, no EveryMatrix, no Bragg, no Altenar, no BetConstruct, no Slotegrator. Every integration is custom against the REST API. Nuvei has six connectors, Paysafe four, PayRetailers two. For operators on a major iGaming platform that expect plug-and-play, Thunes is the opposite experience.
- Pricing is fully custom with no published guidance. Solidgate publishes rates from 0.3-0.8%. NOWPayments publishes flat 0.5-1%. Trustly publishes 0-1% on European A2A. With Thunes you're negotiating from zero and your leverage depends on volume. Smaller operators don't get the same per-transaction rates as a Mastercard-scale partner.
- No official mobile SDKs and no language-specific SDKs. REST API only. The community options are a Go sample and an unmaintained Python package. Nuvei publishes iOS, Android, React Native, Node.js, PHP and Java SDKs. For an engineering team expecting Stripe-level developer ergonomics, the gap is noticeable.
- Trustpilot reputation is thin (14 reviews) and skews negative on the few it has. Glassdoor employee sentiment dropped 11% YoY on comp and benefits and surfaces churn complaints. None of this affects B2B service delivery to enterprise clients, but it's worth flagging when the data point exists at all.
Ready to evaluate Thunes for your business?
Thunes vs. Alternatives: How It Compares
Similar payment processing solutions
Inpay is the closest direct comparison and the more iGaming-native of the two — bootstrapped, Danish FSA triple-licensed, supports MGA/UKGC/Curacao operators, named Power50 client base, SoftSwiss and EveryMatrix connectors, $150k minimum. Inpay loses on emerging-market depth and stablecoin reach. Nium covers similar global payout territory with more aggressive published pricing and a stronger APAC focus, and is the natural alternative for operators evaluating Thunes purely on payout economics. Airwallex layers in multi-currency business accounts and is preferred when treasury operations need a unified provider. NOWPayments is the crypto-native alternative if stablecoin payouts are the primary use case and you don't need the rest of the fiat rails. For full iGaming PSP coverage (deposits + payouts + acquiring + gambling licenses), Nuvei or Paysafe replace the whole stack rather than sitting alongside it.
When to Choose an Alternative
InpayChoose Inpay if iGaming is the primary use case and gambling-license alignment matters. MGA, UKGC and Curacao operator support, SoftSwiss/EveryMatrix connectors, 0% chargeback architecture. Smaller global footprint (90+ countries vs 140) but deeper on iGaming-specific workflows.
NuveiChoose Nuvei if you need a full iGaming PSP, not a payout layer. 720+ methods, six platform connectors, MGA/UKGC/Isle of Man/US state gambling licenses, DraftKings/FanDuel/BetMGM client base. $500k minimum, 12-month contract.
PaysafeChoose Paysafe if Skrill and Neteller wallet traffic is part of the deposit strategy. 50M+ captive wallet users, four iGaming platform connectors, dedicated gambling team. Settles deposit + payout in one stack.
TrustlyChoose Trustly if Europe is the primary payout region and open banking is acceptable. 6,300+ European banks, 0-1% fees, T+0 to T+1 settlement, no rolling reserve. Geography is the trade-off — Trustly is Europe-only.
AstroPayChoose AstroPay if LATAM is the main market. 100+ local methods, player-side brand recognition, $100k minimum, T+1-T+2 settlement. Goes deeper than Thunes on LATAM-specific player-facing flows.
Nuvei
Paysafe
Trustly
Inpay
Inpay
Payout Specialist
Airwallex
Full-Stack PSPEnd of Report. Thunes Provider Assessment Report 2026
Prepared and reviewed by the iGaming Payment Solutions Editorial Team · May 13, 2026