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Vircle launches Malaysia's first Scan & Pay built for children

Sep 28
3 min read

KUALA LUMPUR, [September 28, 2026] — Vircle, the Malaysian fintech that runs cashless payments in more than 100 of the top public, private and international schools in the nation, has launched Scan & Pay for Kids on Vircle, the country's first scan & pay payment feature designed for use by minors via DuitNow QR. It is free, works on any smartphone, and can only be activated by a parent.


The feature extends Vircle's parental controls beyond the school gate to any merchant accepting DuitNow QR, which is to say almost everywhere: the book fair, the mamak after tuition, the convenience store on the walk home. Since its soft launch a month ago, 75% of child users who make a first transaction go on to transact again the following week. The pattern matters for parents because a child who keeps paying through Vircle is a child whose spending stays visible, limited and within the parent’s reach. Parents can set spending limits, see every transaction as it happens, and freeze the account instantly from their own phone. For transfers, kids can only receive money from their parent or send money to another verified child on Vircle, whether it’s splitting a meal after tuition, chipping in for a birthday present, or paying a friend back for the bus.


“Parents are not asking to control every purchase their child makes. They are asking to be in the picture,” said Gokula Subramaniam, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Vircle. “Children are already spending both time and money digitally. What has been missing is an e-wallet built for them from the start, rather than an adult product with a child’s name attached to it. Using Scan & Pay on Vircle is free because safety should not be a paid upgrade.”


The launch builds on infrastructure already in daily use. The Vircle wallet, powered by e-money issuer Fasspay, has operated in Malaysian schools since 2020 and now serves close to 200,000 parents and students. The company also partnered with Fasspay to issue Malaysia's first Visa prepaid card for children with advanced card controls and merchant category controls, blocking categories such as vape shops and bars by default.


The gap Vircle wants to address is real. Minors have been reported receiving payment from adults through e-wallets for sexually explicit content, using accounts that can be registered from as young as 12 (The Star, September 2025). In October 2025, a 17-year-old was found to have earned RM76,000over nine months selling child sexual abuse material online, taking payment through e-wallets and QR- based bank transactions (New Straits Times, October 2025).


Vircle argues that any e-wallet used by a child should meet five criteria: verified parental consent, captured from the parent's own verified identity before the child transacts; parental transaction visibility; spending limits and merchant controls; account freeze capability; and no unrestricted peer-to-peer transfers. Most major Malaysian e-wallets currently fall short.


The first criterion is the one most often skipped. Malaysian law sets a high bar for who can enter into a legal contract and registering for a wallet account is a contract between the user and the wallet provider. Section 11 of the Contracts Act 1950, read together with the Age of Majority Act 1971, implies that one has to be above the age of eighteen to register for an e-wallet account legally. Vircle's approach starts from the parent registering for a family wallet account, onboarding their children and consenting to the child’s mobile access to transact under parental guidance and oversight.


Scan & Pay for Kids on Vircle is available now to all parents who sign up on the Vircle app, which is available for downloads from major app stores. Parents can then create and activate their child’s account with no hidden fees involved. The child then logs in to Vircle on their phone. From that point, the child can scan any merchant DuitNow QR code to pay at more than three million merchants nationwide.



ABOUT VIRCLE

Vircle is the product of Debit Circles Sdn. Bhd., a Malaysian fintech building financial infrastructure designed specifically for children. The Vircle e-wallet app and card are issued in partnership with licensed electronic money (E-Money) and VISA Prepaid Card issuer Fasspay (Fass Payment Solutions Sdn Bhd). Vircle has been operating in schools since 2020, giving parents transaction visibility, spending limits, merchant category controls and account freeze across school payments, a Visa prepaid card, and now Scan & Pay.


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