To accelerate its growth in the United States and its presence in the fast-expanding online gaming market, Thunes, a global cross-border payments company, is proud to announce that it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Tilia LLC,
an all-in-one payments platform. Tilia is licensed in 48 U.S. states
and territories and offers payment solutions (acceptance and pay-outs)
for online games, virtual worlds, creator economies, and in-app
purchases.
Upon closing of the transaction, which is subject to regulatory
approvals, Thunes’ bespoke global network to accept and pay in real-time
through four billion bank accounts, three billion digital wallets and
550 Alternative Payment Methods (APMs) will become available to
merchants across the United States, including current Tilia customers.
Using Tilia’s technology, Thunes will be able to offer Visa, MasterCard,
American Express, JCB and UnionPay acceptance to Thunes’ customers.
As part of the transaction, Thunes and Linden Research, Inc. (“Linden
Lab”), the current majority owner of Tilia, have agreed to an exclusive
five-year partnership in which, post closing, Thunes will provide
payment processing and pay-outs to Linden Lab, leveraging Thunes’ global
network – allowing gamers to pay, and to receive money real-time, in a
more cost-efficient way and with increased transparency.
The press release quoted Thunes' CEO Flores de Kort, “The acquisition of Tilia demonstrates our ambition in the United
States. This investment will enable us to leverage Tilia’s capabilities
to provide merchants with direct money movement solutions in and out of
the United States. Furthermore, Tilia’s deep expertise in online gaming,
virtual worlds and token-based payments will greatly accelerate our
growth into that fast-growing, exciting industry.”
Linden Lab's Executive Chairman, Brad Oberwager, was quoted as saying, “Thunes is an exceptional company that directly connects nearly every
payment method and market worldwide. The combination of Tilia and Thunes
will give Linden Lab’s customers more payment choices, and the ability
to receive pay-outs in real time, anywhere, into the wallet or bank
account of their choice. It will be business as usual for our people and
our customers as we bring Tilia and Thunes together.”
Tilia was quietly bought by Linden Lab in 2015, but was quiet about it's purpose until 2019 when it was announced that it would be taking over currency exchanges, and people selling Lindens to buy real-life currency would have to register with it, saying this was necessary due to new Government regulations. It would also be used to buy and sell Sansar currency, which at the time was owned by Linden Lab. Eventually Sansar would be sold, but Tilia would continue to handle it's transactions, and make deals with other virtual platforms such as Upland to handle theirs. When Linden Lab was bought by the Oberwager Group in 2020, it was believed Tilia was part of what attracted them. In 2022, Linden Lab announced
JP Morgan was making a "strategic investment" in Tilia.
There is a thread in the Second Life forums about the sale it Tilia (
here).
Linden Lab would state, "This is good news for Second Life residents and creators. More options
without additional costs. We are having an open meeting on May 20 and
can discuss in detail."
Bixyl Shuftan
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