88Pay, 80eight's payment layer, now accepts a phone number as a destination. The recipient does not have to be an 80eight customer at the moment the payment is sent.
Where the number belongs to someone already on 80eight, the payment arrives as it always has. Where it does not, the payment is held, and the recipient can claim it once they have signed up.
What it removes
Paying someone new has meant collecting something from them first — an account number and a branch code, or a handle on whichever app they happen to use. A phone number is the one identifier most people already hold for each other.
"Most payments between people start with a phone number in a contact list," said the 80eight product team. "Anything we ask for beyond that is a step we put in the way ourselves."
Availability
Sending to a phone number is part of the same 88Pay flow as sending to a handle, on the 80eight web app.