Owlting flags 15-fold growth in OwlPay Harbor payments

Owlting has published a shareholder letter highlighting growth in its OwlPay Harbor cross-border payments business, marking the company's first year since its Nasdaq listing.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer Darren Wang said payment volume on OwlPay Harbor grew about 15-fold between April and September, with growth in each of the past eight months. Its enterprise client base rose to more than 100 from 84 at the end of August.

The figures provide a fresh snapshot of momentum at the fintech group as it expands its regulated payments network across more markets and customer segments. Payments have settled into about 50 countries and territories this year.

Wang used the letter to restate the company's longer-term financial goals, including about USD $500 million in annual revenue from OwlPay and digital currency-enabled payment services by 2030, alongside gross margins of around 65% to 70% for digital currency payments at scale.

Next product steps include payment infrastructure for AI agents and tokenised stocks, alongside the existing focus on cross-border settlement, digital currency conversion and compliance services for businesses using the network.

Growth metrics

The latest payment volume figures are based on internal records through the end of September. Owlting described 2026 as the first commercial year for OwlPay Harbor, after several years spent building licensing, banking and compliance arrangements.

Its regulatory footprint includes Money Transmitter Licences or equivalent approvals in 42 US states, with the ability to serve customers in 43 states, as well as Electronic Payment Intermediary Service Provider registration in Japan. Additional licence applications are in progress.

That infrastructure underpins a model in which businesses send US dollars or dollar-based digital currencies, while recipients are paid in local currency into bank accounts in destination markets. Compliance checks are built into the payment process.

Strategy focus

In the shareholder letter, Wang argued that regulation remains central to cross-border payments even as AI begins to play a larger role in commerce. He said the group had spent more than five years assembling the systems needed to support money movement across borders.

"AI can make commerce smarter, but it does not make financial regulation disappear," Wang said. "The hardest part of a payment is not the transfer button, but the infrastructure behind it, and that is what we have spent more than five years building. In our first year as a public company, we watched it begin to carry real global volume."

Owlting sees a broad market opening across AI-led commerce, digital currency settlement, tokenised financial assets and remittances. Wang said these areas all rely on compliant money movement, foreign exchange and settlement systems that connect digital transactions with the wider economy.

It also uses AI in engineering, compliance and operations, aiming to increase transaction volumes faster than operating costs. The group is positioning itself as a provider of the regulated layers that software platforms, financial institutions and AI-driven services need to move money internationally.

Public market year

Wang linked the company's first year on Nasdaq to a shift from preparation to early execution. He said the business had moved from spending five years building a foundation to demonstrating commercial uptake in 2026.

The letter described Harbor as a single API through which platforms can access regulated payment networks, know-your-customer and know-your-business checks, anti-money-laundering controls and liquidity connections. Future additions are expected to include conversion between different digital currencies, as well as payment functions designed for AI agents and tokenised stocks.

Despite the emphasis on future market opportunities, the immediate focus remains on operating efficiency, liquidity, risk management and capital allocation as the company scales its network. The recent increase in client numbers suggests Owlting is seeking to broaden adoption among larger business customers rather than relying solely on transaction growth from existing users.