Airwallex CEO denies allegations that US user data is being sent to China
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The news: Airwallex CEO Jack Zhang denied claims that US customer data is being transferred or exposed to Chinese authorities, after prominent US venture capitalist Keith Rabois alleged that the company’s engineering presence and Chinese investors puts Airwallex customer data at risk.
The context: On Monday, Rabois publicly accused Airwallex of operating a “Chinese backdoor intro sensitive American data” via a detailed series of posts on X, claiming that through the payments platform, Beijing can access supplier payments for AI labs, payroll data for defence contractors and personal data for employees abroad.
Rabois said of Airwallex’s roughly 1,700 employees globally, roughly 40% and its largest offices are in mainland China and Hong Kong, including core engineering and operations. This presence, he argued, means that employees are obligated to comply with Chinese government demands to hand over data and that company leaders are subject to Chinese national security law.
Rabois, who is a former executive at PayPal and Square, cited PRC National Intelligence Law and Hong Kong National Security Law which requires that entities within the Chinese jurisdiction must assist and cooperate with state intelligence efforts and keep any such efforts undisclosed.
Rabois wrote: “As CEO, you list your place of residence as Hong Kong (with a correspondence address of London) in legal filings your co-founders (CTO and COO) are based in Hong Kong and Mainland China per X data, and your Chief Legal, Compliance and Risk Officer lives in Hong Kong too – placing your key execs under the Hong Kong National Security Law, which penalizes refusing government requests for data.”
Rabois also claimed that with over 20% of Airwallex being Chinese-owned, including Tencent and HongShan, the company is further obligated to comply with requests from the Chinese Communist Party.
Responding to Rabois’ thread on Tuesday, Zhang categorically denied the claims, stating via X that “It’s disappointing to see an investor circulating inaccurate claims to give a portfolio company an edge in competing. Airwallex operates under strict global data-residency and security frameworks. No U.S. customer data is sent to China. Full stop.”
Zhang said that despite hiring “the best talent globally”, US customer data is stored in US, Netherlands and Singapore data centres and is subject to strict security and access controls.
“No members of Airwallex China or Hong Kong entities have access to US customer PII…We do not answer to foreign intelligence demands for non-local sensitive data, our technical and legal structures prevent that cross-border reach.”
Responding to comments about his place of residence, Zhang added: “for what it’s worth, the entire London tech ecosystem knows I live in Holland Park [in London]. Hard to believe this is even a talking point.”
In early November Airwallex crossed USD1 billion in annualised run rate revenue, having been reached a valuation of over USD6 billion in a May funding round.
Capital Brief has reached out to Airwallex for comment.
The sources: Keith Rabois X thread, Jack Zhang X post
