Airwallex caught in the crossfire of US-China tech war
An ugly spat on X this week has underscored the intrigue surrounding Airwallex and its backstory, amid simmering tensions between the US and China on tech.
By the time Airwallex officially moved its headquarters to Singapore in early 2023, the USD6.2 billion ($9.4 billion) Melbourne- founded unicorn had identified a serious problem: it was unable to quarantine access to existing customer data from China.
The thorny situation, recounted to Capital Brief by three sources with knowledge of the incident who spoke on the condition of anonymity, became a key priority for the global payments fintech as it looked to crack the lucrative US market.
The issue was ultimately rectified and internal access permissions tightened, but it underscores the noise that has surrounded Airwallex during its relentless rise from Melbourne cafe to global fintech giant.
In the decade since it launched in 2015, questions around the quality of its compliance, the intensity of its growth-at-all-costs culture, and the nature of its Chinese connections have lingered.
