Astra Launches First-Ever Point-to-Point Debit Transfer Product Powered by Cross River

December 16, 2021

Astra Launches First-Ever Point-to-Point Debit Transfer Product Powered by Cross River

Fintech developers can now leverage Astra’s API and Cross River’s digital payments infrastructure to process instant transfers between debit cards to fund accounts

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. - Astra, Inc. (“Astra”), the automation platform for money movement, today announced the launch of its first-ever card-to-card instant payment API. Through a strategic partnership with Cross River Bank (“Cross River”), a technology-driven financial services organization that provides core infrastructure and embedded financial solutions, Astra is providing the critical infrastructure that will, for the first time, enable fintech developers to fund accounts and facilitate deposits via the debit card payment rails.

“Astra’s new instant payment API gives fintech developers the ability to easily embed card-to-card transfers into their own application, for the first time without the need for any additional infrastructure. The funds are instantly applied to the destination card,” said Gil Akos, CEO of Astra, Inc. “Never before have developers been able to leverage card payment rails like Visa to instantly transfer cash between debit cards. We are extremely excited about the product innovations our team, together with Cross River, have been able to build on our platform that will transform the industry.”

Financial technology products have the ability to choose several payment options when processing account-to-account (A2A) transactions via ACH or traditional card processing services. With this new solution, developers can process a transaction instantly, directly from one debit card onto a second debit card, without the need for settlement accounts or developing reconciliation operations. The solution is also PCI compliant by default. Astra’s secure API integration ensures developers will have limited liability for sensitive card data.