Global payments company Airwallex, valued at $8 billion, is moving staff out of China after allegations its operations there create a potential “Chinese backdoor” to sensitive US customer data.
The accusations, first raised publicly by venture capitalist Keith Rabois on December 1, 2025, have escalated into a geopolitical controversy involving a US senator, concerns over Chinese intelligence law, and a client list that includes Coinbase and defense contractor Anduril.
Rabois pointed out that roughly 40% of Airwallex’s 1,700 employees are based in mainland China and Hong Kong. He argued Chinese national intelligence laws require citizens and organizations to cooperate with state intelligence efforts, creating a pathway for sensitive American data to be compromised. He also highlighted that Tencent and HongShan, two major Chinese investors, own more than 20% of Airwallex.
CEO Jack Zhang and co-founders pushed back, stating all US customer data is stored exclusively in the US or Singapore, and employees in China do not have access to production systems or sensitive information. However, internal concerns about China-based staff accessing client Know Your Customer data reportedly surfaced as early as 2023.
The political dimension escalated on December 18, 2025, when Senator Tom Cotton formally requested an investigation into whether American data could be accessed by the Chinese government through Airwallex’s operations.
The Coinbase and Anduril connections make this particularly combustible. For a company processing data for one of the largest US crypto exchanges and a defense contractor building weapons systems for the US military, the narrative is a direct challenge to data sovereignty.