AstroPay Review
6.1/10LatAm's 17-year-old player wallet, distributed to operators as an APM through Nuvei, Ecommpay, Corefy, and SoftGamings, with an own Brazilian payment-institution authorization and a 2024 consumer pivot that wrote gambling out of the growth story.
Our read
One solid leg (BCB payment institution with indirect Pix participation, decision Nov 2024) plus UK and Danish EMIs and two Isle of Man registrations. The undertaking-conditioned UK resumption of July 2025 takes the top off the grade.
11 countries named on-site, 12 wallet currencies including USDT, and four named distribution connectors. Graded as wallet reach, since there is no merchant processing coverage to measure.
One Touch cash-outs close the loop and wallet withdrawals are marketed as immediate, but the rails are consumer-side and no merchant settlement terms exist anywhere public.
Direct merchant API with an npm SDK plus four connector routes, docked because the docs show little without an account, no sandbox terms are published, and there is no operator-grade compliance tooling.
17 years and the bet365 flow documented in the operator's own help center sit against a conditioned UK resumption, thin current scale disclosure, and a growth story that moved past gambling.
Nothing is published: no merchant pricing, no settlement schedule, no reserves, no SLAs, on either the direct or the connector route.
Methodology. Our own score, a weighted average of six dimensions, tilted toward coverage and licensing. Weighted for LatAm-specialist buyers, where coverage carries 0.26 and compliance 0.20, the file lands at 6.1: the Brazilian authorization and the four-jurisdiction licensing spread hold the middle up, the wallet-only product ceiling keeps coverage and settlement in the low sixes, and a 4.6 for fully hidden commercials plus a 5.6 trust grade pull the weighted result down from there. Read the full methodology
- Own Brazilian regulatory ground: Astro Instituição de Pagamento Ltda holds a BCB payment-institution authorization as e-money issuer and payment initiator (decision November 29, 2024) and operates as an indirect Pix participant.
- A wallet players already know: 17 years in LatAm, app ratings of 4.8 across 179K Google Play reviews and 4.7 across 11K on the App Store (July 2026), and years of shirt-level football branding from Wolves to Tottenham reinforcing recognition with betting audiences.
- A full deposit-and-withdrawal loop: One Touch covers repeat deposits after a single wallet link, the flow bet365's own help center documents, plus cash-outs back to the wallet, where the legacy voucher this brand grew up on was deposit-only.
- Low-commitment distribution: the wallet is already a connector at Nuvei, Ecommpay, Corefy, and SoftGamings (Jul 2026), so an operator can enable it through an existing PSP without signing a direct contract.
- The UK leg carries fresh history: Larstal Limited resumed UK onboarding on July 28, 2025 under an updated FCA voluntary undertaking, a conditioned resumption after new UK business had been paused from April 2024, so confirm the current undertaking status during diligence.
- Gambling is the de-emphasized legacy: the October-December 2024 'New Era' repositioning recast AstroPay as a global consumer multicurrency wallet, and neither the December 2024 wallet launch nor the July 2025 AstroPay Platform announcement mentions gaming once, even as the Gaming use-case page quietly stays up.
- It stopped being a processor years ago: the processing businesses were spun off as dLocal in 2016 and D24 in 2020, leaving no operator-side Pix acquiring, no routing or acceptance tooling, and no betting-grade same-CPF payout product for Brazil's 2025 regulated market.
- Merchant commercials are fully hidden and public scale disclosure is thin, with trusted by 500+ businesses the only current figure.
- The custodial wallet model means player withdrawals can pause during wallet-level compliance reviews, friction that reaches the operator's support desk first, and diligence must additionally navigate five entities across four jurisdictions plus a second, non-authorized Brazilian company (Astropay Brasil Ltda).
Operators building Brazil and wider LatAm cashiers who want a wallet players already recognize as an additional deposit and withdrawal option, switched on through an existing PSP connector, with the One Touch repeat-deposit flow earning its keep on VIP and returning-player segments.
Anyone shopping for a primary LatAm processing partner, operator-side Pix acquiring, betting-grade CPF-matched payouts under Brazil's regime, published pricing and SLAs, or a vendor whose roadmap still centers on gambling.
Markets & licensing
Five entities carry the group. The core one is Astro Instituição de Pagamento Ltda, the Brazilian payment institution authorized by the BCB on November 29, 2024 and operating as an indirect Pix participant. The UK EMI, the Danish EMI, and the Isle of Man Financial Services Licence round out the stack, with the UK entity onboarding customers again since July 28, 2025 under an updated voluntary undertaking that replaced the April 2024 original.
The US shows up on the business site's country list, but no NMLS record, money-transmitter license, or state gaming approval exists for any AstroPay entity, so US processing is unavailable and a US-facing operator should look elsewhere in the category.
Larstal Limited (FRN 901001) has held the EMI authorization since December 2019 and has onboarded UK customers again since July 28, 2025, under an updated voluntary undertaking that replaced the April 2024 original which had paused new UK business. The resumption carries conditions rather than a clean slate, so confirm the current undertaking status with the FCA before contracting.
- Brazil (BCB) payment institutionBrazil
- E-money issuer and payment initiator, with indirect Pix participation as an account provider · Astro Instituição de Pagamento Ltda · CNPJ 34.006.497/0001-77 · decision 2024-11-29, DOU 2024-12-05 · indirect Pix participant
- UK (FCA) EMIUnited Kingdom
- Electronic money institution, held by Larstal Limited · FRN 901001 · authorized 2019-12-03 · UK onboarding resumed 2025-07-28 under an updated voluntary undertaking
- Denmark (Finanstilsynet) EMIDenmark / EEA
- Electronic money institution and the EEA passporting entity · Larstal Denmark ApS · FTID 40514, CVR 42457590 · the EEA passporting entity
- Isle of Man (FSA) money transmissionIsle of Man
- Class 8(2)(4) money transmission license · AstroPay Global (IOM) Limited, 135497C · Financial Services Licence since May 24, 2023
- Isle of Man (FSA) crypto registrationIsle of Man
- Designated Business Act registration for convertible virtual currency, covering the wallet's USDT · AP Digital (IOM) Limited, 135889C
Licensing tier: Mid-tier on two solid legs: the recent Brazilian authorization and a UK EMI onboarding again since July 2025, plus the Danish EMI and the Isle of Man licenses. Diligence must also keep two Brazilian companies straight: Astropay Brasil Ltda (CNPJ 48.676.975/0001-60) exists in the group's orbit and is NOT the BCB-authorized institution.
These are payments authorizations under which the wallet itself operates, which is different from gambling-market approvals: as an APM the wallet reaches operators wherever their PSPs enable it.
No market-restriction or operator-acceptance list is published. As an APM the wallet reaches operators wherever their PSPs enable it, across licensed and offshore-facing books alike.
Methods & rails
What you can reach
A2A rails
Card schemes
Flagship local methods
Payout rails
Processing features
Integrations & engineering
One contract and one API instead of a separate deal per studio, feed, or PSP. Here's what connects, how fast, and on what stack.
Two routes exist. The low-commitment one is through a PSP or platform that already carries the wallet: Nuvei lists it as an APM with One Touch deposits and withdrawals, Ecommpay and Corefy publish connector docs, and SoftGamings lists it among platform payment providers (Jul 2026). The direct route is a merchant contract against the REST API at developers.astropay.com, covering deposits and One Touch cash-outs with an official npm SDK, where the player links a wallet once and then deposits from balance. Player KYC and funding of local rails (Pix, CVU, cards, cash) happen on AstroPay's side in both routes, and merchant settlement terms surface only in sales.
Not published. The only timing language anywhere is the Platform pitch about compressing years of licensing into weeks, which targets fintechs, and no operator integration timeline exists publicly.
Products & tools
Everything hangs off the consumer wallet: operators accept it as a deposit and withdrawal method, One Touch handles linking and cash-outs, and the 2025 AstroPay Platform rents the licensing stack out to fintechs.
AstroPay Wallet Acceptance
The actual product an operator buys: acceptance of the AstroPay consumer wallet at the cashier. Players fund the wallet on AstroPay's side with Pix, CVU, cards, and cash, then deposit from balance, so the operator never touches the local rails.
- 12 wallet currencies including USDT: ARS, BRL, CLP, COP, EUR, MXN, PEN, GBP, USD, UYU (Jul 2026)
- Wallet funding rails named in the Jul 2025 Platform announcement: Pix in Brazil, CVU in Argentina, IBAN in Europe, UK sort codes
- 11 countries named on the business site (Jul 2026)
- Trusted by 500+ businesses is the only current scale figure (Jul 2026)
- Consumer app ratings of 4.8 across 179K Google Play reviews and 4.7 across 11K on the App Store (Jul 2026)
- Balance-funded payments carry structurally low chargeback exposure, a property of the wallet model
One Touch Deposits & Cash-Outs
The merchant-facing flow behind the wallet: a REST API covering deposits and cash-outs, with a one-time wallet link that turns every later deposit into a single tap, the mechanic bet365's help center documents for its own cashier.
- Deposits and player cash-outs in one merchant API, with an official npm SDK (@astropay/astropay-sdk)
- Wallet linking for repeat deposits without reopening the app, live in bet365's documented flow (bet365 help center, Jul 2026)
- Withdrawals back to the wallet are marketed as immediate (Jul 2026)
- The same flow ships as a connector at Nuvei, Ecommpay, Corefy, and SoftGamings (Jul 2026)
- Legacy AstroPay Card vouchers remain deposit-only per third-party connector docs
AstroPay Platform
The July 2025 B2B launch: global accounts, Visa and Mastercard card issuing, wallet acceptance, and checkout sold as embedded finance, with CEO Marc Sacal pitching that 'what used to take years of licensing can now be done in weeks'.
- Global accounts, card issuing, online payments (wallet acceptance), and checkout modules (launch PR, Jul 29, 2025)
- Effectively white-label financial infrastructure: own-brand wallets and cards on AstroPay's licensing and KYC stack
- Named target list: fintechs, super apps, marketplaces, creator and payroll platforms
- Gambling appears nowhere in the Platform's positioning or target list
The history
Sales decks get rewritten for every deal. A dated record doesn't.
Sergio Fogel and Andrés Bzurovski founded AstroPay in Uruguay in 2009, and for years the prepaid AstroPay Card voucher was the product that carried LatAm gambling deposits. The processing ventures born inside the group left it: dLocal was spun off in 2016 and listed its way to making the founders Uruguay's first billionaires by 2021 (they remain major dLocal shareholders, with no operational relationship between the firms), and D24/Directa24 followed in 2020. A 2023-2024 leadership change brought in CEO Marc Sacal, who co-founded Arcus before its acquisition by Mastercard. Then came the pivotal 2024: an FCA voluntary undertaking paused new UK business in April, the Brazilian central bank authorized Astro Instituição de Pagamento in November, and December brought the 'New Era' repositioning and multicurrency wallet launch aimed at consumers rather than gambling. July 2025 delivered both the UK resumption under an updated undertaking and the AstroPay Platform. The company is bootstrapped and profitable by its own account, with about 320 staff (Dec 2024).
Brands & clients on the platform
Corporate
Leadership
Milestones
- 2009
Founded in Uruguay by Sergio Fogel and Andrés Bzurovski, with the prepaid AstroPay Card voucher as the flagship product for LatAm deposits.
- 2016
dLocal spun off, taking the cross-border processing business that would later IPO and make the founders Uruguay's first billionaires (2021).
- 2020
D24/Directa24 spun off, the second processing arm to leave, cementing the wallet as what AstroPay itself is.
- 2021
Peak betting-brand era: Wolves principal shirt sponsorship (2021-2023), Newcastle deal, following earlier Burnley sponsorships, with Tottenham payment partner following in 2023.
- 2024
An FCA voluntary undertaking takes effect April 11, pausing new UK business for the Larstal entity.
- 2024
Brazil's central bank authorizes Astro Instituição de Pagamento Ltda (decision November 29, DOU December 5), and December brings the 'New Era' consumer pivot and multicurrency wallet launch under CEO Marc Sacal.
- 2025
July double: UK onboarding resumes under an updated FCA undertaking (announced July 28) and the AstroPay Platform launches (July 29) targeting fintechs, with gambling absent from both announcements.
Where they're pushing next
- Consumer EEA expansion via the Danish EMI: Denmark, Spain, and Portugal first, with Germany, France, Italy, and Poland targeted by end-2025 (plan as of Dec 2024)
- Brazil under the own BCB authorization (Nov 2024), as a consumer wallet rather than operator processing
Longevity and ownership
Switching vendors is expensive, which makes the company's staying power part of the purchase. What the contract says about your data decides how expensive an exit gets.
AstroPay vs alternatives
No two vendors describe themselves the same way, which makes their own claims hard to line up. Every name here answers the same fields, so you can see where this one sits against the closest alternatives.
| Attribute | AstroPay | PayRetailers | Pay4Fun |
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2009 | 2017 | 2018 |
| Team | 320+ | 265+ | 150+ |
| US market | Restricted | Restricted | Restricted |
| Pricing | Not published | On request | On request |
| Methods | — | 300+ | — |
| Currencies | 11+ | 24+ | 1+ |
| Coins | 1+ | 0+ | 0+ |
| EMI / PI licenses | UK, Denmark, Brazil +1 | Brazil | Brazil |
| Settlement | Not published | Not published | Full amount funded to the merchant account on Pay4Fun GO, pitched as fast with no published T+n |
| Instant payouts | Yes | — | Yes |
The take: PayRetailers is the operator-side processor of the trio, with acquirer-modality BCB licensing and a betting-grade CPF-validation payout API, while Pay4Fun is the gambling-first Brazilian wallet whose BCB authorization dates back to 2022. AstroPay brings the biggest consumer brand, the widest licensing spread, and the broadest PSP distribution, and it is also the only one whose growth story points away from gambling. Slot it in as an additional cashier method for player recognition, and put the processing backbone elsewhere.
Settlement & commercials
AstroPay prices per deal, so exact figures land in the contract rather than on a public rate card.
No merchant pricing is published. The CEO's stated revenue model is card interchange, yield on wallet balances, and merchant fees when users pay from balance (Dec 2024).
Everything merchant-side is quoted in sales. The only public money facts are consumer-side: bet365 deposits via AstroPay run $10 to $10,000 with no player fees (2025, indicative only), and the wallet sells a paid Infinite tier with FX perks. No setup fees, reserves, minimums, or settlement schedules are published, and the 'Trusted by 500+ businesses' line reads more like standardized packages than bespoke deals.
The deal
Money movement
Onboarding path
- 1Pick the route first: enable the wallet through a PSP already carrying the connector (Nuvei, Ecommpay, Corefy) or through the SoftGamings platform, or pursue a direct merchant contract
- 2On the PSP route, switch the method on in your existing cashier and skip straight to testing, since the connector handles the AstroPay relationship
- 3On the direct route, contact merchant sales for terms, because no pricing, settlement schedule, or SLA is public, and clear KYB with the relevant regional entity
- 4Verify the licensing stack for your markets during diligence, including the current FCA undertaking status on Larstal's FRN 901001 and the fact that Astropay Brasil Ltda (48.676.975/0001-60) is not the BCB-authorized institution
- 5Integrate deposits and One Touch cash-outs against the merchant API or the @astropay/astropay-sdk npm package, confirming sandbox access with sales since availability is not published
- 6Test the wallet-linking flow for repeat deposits, negotiate settlement currency and cadence into the contract, and brief player support on wallet-side compliance holds before go-live
Frequently asked
The things operators actually ask before signing.
Is AstroPay a PSP or a payment processor?+
No, and the distinction decides whether it belongs on your shortlist. AstroPay today is a consumer wallet that operators accept as an alternative payment method: the player funds the wallet with Pix, CVU, cards, or cash on AstroPay's side, then deposits from balance. The group's actual processing businesses were spun off years ago, as dLocal in 2016 and D24 in 2020, and AstroPay's own July 2025 Platform announcement describes its online-payments product as direct wallet acceptance. So the realistic buy decision is 'add the AstroPay wallet to my LatAm cashier', either through your PSP or directly, and never 'route my Pix acquiring through AstroPay'.
What happened between AstroPay and the FCA, and can it serve UK customers now?+
Larstal Limited, the UK entity holding EMI license FRN 901001, operated under a voluntary undertaking from April 11, 2024 that paused new UK customers, new customer funds, and new e-money issuance. In July 2025 an updated undertaking replaced the original and Larstal resumed onboarding UK users, announced July 28, 2025. The practical read: AstroPay is an authorized UK EMI taking new customers again under a resumption that still carries conditions rather than a clean slate, so confirm the current status with the FCA when contracting.
Does AstroPay support Pix in Brazil, and under whose authorization?+
Yes, under its own: Astro Instituição de Pagamento Ltda (CNPJ 34.006.497/0001-77) was authorized by the Central Bank of Brazil as an e-money issuer and payment initiator on November 29, 2024 (published in the DOU December 5, 2024) and operates as an indirect Pix participant, an account provider riding a direct participant's infrastructure. That covers Pix in and out for wallet users. It is wallet top-up and withdrawal depth, though: there is no operator-side Pix acquiring and no betting-grade same-CPF payout product of the kind Brazil-focused rivals advertise. One diligence trap to avoid: a second company, Astropay Brasil Ltda (CNPJ 48.676.975/0001-60), is not the authorized payment institution.
Can players withdraw winnings back to AstroPay?+
Yes. The One Touch flow includes cash-outs, so winnings return to the player's wallet balance, and the connector documentation at Ecommpay, Corefy, and SoftGamings all describes the withdrawal leg. That separates today's wallet from the legacy AstroPay Card voucher, which remains deposit-only in third-party docs. Withdrawals to the wallet are marketed as immediate (July 2026), with the player then moving money out over local rails like Pix. Budget for wallet-level compliance holds: withdrawals can pause during account reviews, and that friction reaches the operator's support desk first.
How does an operator integrate AstroPay, directly or through a PSP?+
Both routes are live. The fastest is through infrastructure you may already run: Nuvei carries AstroPay as an APM with One Touch deposits and withdrawals, Ecommpay and Corefy publish connector docs, and SoftGamings lists it among platform payment providers (Jul 2026). The direct route is a merchant contract against the REST API at developers.astropay.com, which covers deposits and cash-outs and ships an official npm SDK. Two caveats on the direct path: the developer portal renders as a client-side JavaScript app that shows little without an account, and no sandbox terms are published, so scope it with sales. Neither route has public pricing.