Changelog

New updates and improvements to Fern
September 19, 2024

Same-day ACH and updated USD transfer fees

Fern now offers more options for you to send and receive your USD payments same-day. For offramp and crypto-to-fiat payments, you can now select same-day ACH as a payment method, in addition to wire transfer and ACH. If you initiate a USD transaction before 4pm EST, funds will arrive that same day.

We have updated our fees for USD transfers:

  • ACH (1-3 business days): $1.00 (previously $0.50)
  • Same-day ACH (<1 business day): $5.00
  • Wire transfers (1 business day): $20.00 

If you have any feedback or suggestions, please reach out at hello@fernhq.com.

September 13, 2024

ERC-20 support

ERC-20 support

We're thrilled to announce support for all ERC-20 tokens!

On our supported networks (Arbitrum, Base, Ethereum, Optimism, Polygon), you can now:

  • Import any ERC-20 using its name or contract address 
  • Receive and view any ERC-20s sent to your Fern accounts
  • Pay others with any ERC-20
  • Convert your assets to any ERC-20 on the same network
  • Offramp any ERC-20 into USD
  • Configure your Fern account to automatically offramp any ERC-20s you receive

Our fees remain unchanged—just 0.5% for all conversions and offramps. 

Updated onramp destination 

When you initiate an onramp, you may notice a different account and routing number in the transfer instructions. If you've previously saved the onramp account details with your originating bank, please ensure they are updated to avoid any issues with receiving your funds.

As usual, if you have any feedback, please reach out at hello@fernhq.com

August 8, 2024

Mobile support

Good news, Fern is now mobile-friendly! No more awkward scrolling or hard-to-use forms — everything you can do on the web, you can now do just as easily through your mobile browser, on the go.

If you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to send us an email at hello@fernhq.com.

July 30, 2024

Native gas token support and fees

Native gas token support – ETH and MATIC

You can now use Fern to send, transfer, convert, or offramp native gas tokens on their respective networks! ETH is now available on Arbitrum, Base, Ethereum mainnet, and Optimism. MATIC is supported on Polygon. You can also set up automations to automatically offramp these tokens. 

Fees

To further enhance Fern, we are introducing a fee structure for conversions, onramps, and offramps. Each of these transactions will incur a 0.5% Fern fee, in addition to any applicable gas and wire/ACH fees. We will display these fees upfront in the transaction flow, allowing you to make an informed decision.

We remain committed to keeping fees as low as possible and are continually seeking ways to reduce them further while improving our platform and service.

Questions? 

We deeply value your trust and loyalty, and we believe these changes enable us to make our platform even better for you. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out at hello@fernhq.com!

July 1, 2024

Improving the KYB experience

A more comprehensive KYB

We've enhanced the KYB process to gather more information and documents upfront, allowing you to complete KYB in a single step. By minimizing the need to send additional documents after your initial submission, you'll receive approval faster. Once approved, you'll have full access to Fern, including our integrated on and offramps!

If you haven't completed KYB yet, simply click on the green banner or your avatar in the bottom left corner.

Feedback?

Let us know at hello@fernhq.com.

June 10, 2024

Manually link bank accounts

Manually link your USD bank account

When you choose to link a bank account, you can now choose whether you want to link with Plaid or manually. Once your details are confirmed, you should be able to easily onramp/offramp from/to this bank account. Please ensure that all account details are correct before linking!

Updated onramp details

We have updated bank account information for onramps for some users. Now, when you see onramp transfer instructions, you might see a different destination account for your transfer. Onramps will still complete in 1-3 business days after you transfer funds from your bank account.

Add a beneficiary name for your contact’s bank account 

You can now add a beneficiary name when adding your contact's bank account. This is to ensure your funds reach your contact in case the contact uses a different name on their bank account.

Feedback? 

If you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to send us an email at hello@fernhq.com.

June 4, 2024

Automations

We’re excited to introduce Automations. You can now create rules on your Fern accounts to automatically convert incoming crypto to USD. If you want to accept payment in crypto while primarily handling USD, this is for you.

Set up an automation rule

In the left navigation bar, you'll find a new tab called Automations. For each wallet, choose the currencies and networks to automatically convert (e.g. USDC on Polygon) and select a destination bank account and payment method (e.g. Wire or ACH).

We currently support automatic conversion of USDC on all 5 networks (Arbitrum, Base, Ethereum mainnet, OP mainnet, and Polygon), and ETH on Ethereum mainnet.

When an automation rule is active

Once the rule is active, existing wallet funds will be automatically converted to USD and transferred according to the rule.

Incoming payments or transfers of specified assets will also be automatically converted and transferred. In Activity, you'll see both the incoming payment and the automatic conversion. You’ll be notified once the USD payment is complete (typically 1-3 business days).

View, edit or delete an automation rule

On the Accounts page, you can see which accounts have automation rules set. You can click into a specific Account page to view the details of the automation rule.

The Automations page allows you to view all rules at a glance. To view and edit a specific automation rule, click one of the rows in the table.

Feedback?

We’re excited to continue making money move like magic for you. We’d love to hear what you think about these changes, or if you have any other suggestions for Fern. Drop us a line here.

May 31, 2024

Crypto to fiat payments

We're excited to offer USDC to USD payments, direct from your Fern wallets. Now, you can keep your funds in crypto but still pay recipients in USD.

Pay fiat directly from your Fern wallets 

When making a USDC payment to a contact, you can select or add a USD bank account for your contact. Once you confirm the payment, Fern will automatically convert your USDC to USD and transfer the USD to your contact’s bank account.

This feature is currently only available for Fern users who are based outside the US.

Add a contact’s USD bank account

To support crypto to fiat payments, you can now add USD bank accounts as payment accounts for your contacts.

Feedback? 

Let us know at hello@fernhq.com.

May 24, 2024

Global availability and enhanced offramps

Fern now supports users globally

Any individual or business based anywhere in the world can now gain access to the full capabilities of Fern. Previously, only US-based individuals and businesses were able to leverage Fern’s on/offramp capabilities. Now, anyone worldwide can do so.

To leverage Fern’s fiat features, you will need to complete an individual or business verification form. Our team and partners will review your application in 1-2 business days.

Once your account is verified, you can link your bank account and use Fern’s integrated on and offramps. 

Enhanced offramps 

With Fern’s latest upgrades, you can now choose to receive your USD offramp via your preferred payment method, whether ACH or wire transfer.

Feedback?

We’re excited Fern can now support users globally. Please let us know if you have any feedback by sending us a note at hello@fernhq.com.

May 3, 2024

Limitless onramps, offramps, and conversions

Many users today have interacted with Fern’s conversion features to move seamlessly between stablecoins and fiat currencies. Today, we’re excited to announce some big upgrades to our conversion experience to support even more robust conversion flows.

Onramp

Onramps now have their own dedicated experience. To initiate an Onramp, look for “Onramp” in the Quick Actions menu or the ⬇️ arrow in your Account detail page (to Onramp to a specific account).

To onramp, select or link a bank account and the network where you would like to receive USDC.

You’ll receive dedicated transfer instructions in a new tab. Your unique USD transfer instructions will tell you precisely how much USD to send, where to send it to, and a specific reference ID to include as an external memo with your transfer. These instructions will also be sent to your email so you can complete the USD transfer at any time. Transfer instructions are valid for 30 days from the time of initiating your onramp.

This experience is more manual than it used to be, but transactions no longer have limits. Whether you want to onramp $10,000 or $1,000,000, Fern can now support you with one transaction.

Once you have transferred funds and they have been received, Fern will send you USDC on your desired network.

At this time, Fern only supports onramping into USDC. However, you can use our new Convert modal to convert your USDC to ETH instantly. Read on for more details.

Convert

Fern now supports converting between USDC (on any network) and ETH on Ethereum mainnet. If you’d like to convert ETH to USDC, you can also choose your destination network. It’s a bridge and a swap, all rolled into one.

Find the “Convert” feature in the Quick Actions menu or in a specific Account page with the ↕️ arrow.

We prioritized creating a really smooth and trustworthy experience for crypto swaps, where you can see a guaranteed minimum amount received, guaranteed fees, and more. Another benefit to using Fern for conversion is that you don’t need gas on any chain in order for the conversion to complete successfully!

Offramp

Offramps now support offramping ETH and USDC to USD. To initiate an Offramp, look for “Offramp” in the Quick Actions menu or the ⬆️ arrow in a specific Account page.

Similar to onramps, Fern can now support offramps of any transaction size!

USD wallets

We are deprecating USD wallets in the Fern UI. Instead of having to go through a Fern USD wallet for onramps and offramps, you can now use your linked bank accounts directly.

Feedback

We’re excited to bring even more power to the features you use the most at Fern. If you have any feedback or questions, please send us an email at hello@fernhq.com.

April 19, 2024

Streamlining the KYB experience

Today, we’re excited to announce a drastically simplified Fern KYB experience.

Information for controllers and owners

Before today’s release, the person filling out a Fern KYB form had to enter information for other individuals associated with the business. This meant asking co-founders and others for personal details like SSN, passport info, and date of birth to complete the form.

With our recently released updates, founders can now simply enter their partners’ names, email addresses, and percentage ownership (if relevant). Fern will then email each partner an individual verification link where they can securely enter their own information to complete the KYB process.

Once all the information is submitted, Fern KYB usually takes 1-2 business days to complete. Sometimes, KYB can be completed in just a few hours.

KYB status pages

Admins on Fern accounts can now keep track of more granular status updates on their KYB applications by looking at the KYB status page. The status page shows who still has to complete individual verification, and when the application is complete and ready for review.

Other improvements and bug fixes

  • Improving how address fields work with browser autofill/autocomplete
  • Updating the date of birth field so you can type in birthdates, other minor UX improvements

We’re really excited about these updates and continuing to build experiences that connect the world financially. As always, please feel free to share feedback with us at hello@fernhq.com.

March 29, 2024

ENS name resolution

Fern now supports ENS name resolution! You can link your own wallets or pay someone else using ENS names on any of Fern’s supported networks — Ethereum mainnet, Arbitrum, Base, OP mainnet, and Polygon. We’ve made sure the details work well, so subdomains resolve on L1 and L2s as well.

Try it out and let us know what you think at hello@fernhq.com!

March 22, 2024

Personal KYC and Google login

Personal KYC

Previously, to access Fern’s USD wallet, USD payment features, and onramps and offramps, you had to be using Fern for business purposes and complete the Know Your Business (KYB) process. Now, individuals can gain access to the full power of Fern by completing Fern KYC.

If you’ve created an account as an individual for personal use on Fern, you’ll see a prompt to supercharge your account by completing KYC. We are currently able to support US-based individuals, and KYC for other regions is coming soon.

Once you’re verified, you’ll have access to instant, free on/offramps, a USD wallet that can make and receive ACH payments, and so much more.

Google login

We’re constantly working on ways to make it even easier to use Fern. This week, we introduced Google login, so you can now create or log into an account using Google auth. If you’ve already created your Fern account with email/password, you can still use Google auth to log in using the same email address you used to sign up. No manual linking required, and your 2FA setup will still just work.

March 15, 2024

Date filters and transaction exports

You can now use date filters to explore your Fern transactions, and export any set of transactions to CSV. Transaction exports include USD cost basis, fees paid, and block explorer links per transaction.

We want Fern to be seamless to use across your fiat and crypto transactions. These features make it easier to share your Fern transactions with accountants and bookkeepers.

Onwards! (And feel free to share feedback/comments at hello@fernhq.com)

March 13, 2024

Instant on and offramps

Today, we released instant conversions between USD and USDC on all supported chains for free (excluding gas costs). If you have USD in your Fern wallet, you can convert it to USDC 1:1 on any of Fern’s supported chains. If you have USDC on any chain, you can convert it to USD 1:1. The conversion takes a few minutes to complete at the most, and converted funds are immediately available to use.

To access this functionality, you can check out the new “Convert” feature from the Quick Actions menu or you can also easily convert from any of your specific account views. We chose to call this feature “convert” instead of “onramp” or “offramp” because we wanted one product flow to capture both of these directions, but also because we plan to support more currencies for conversion in the future. But yes, you read that right — Fern now offers an onramp in addition to an offramp. 🎉

As with everything we do, we chose to invest in building out really smooth UX for this feature. The feature includes a bidirectional conversion calculator, where you can specify the amount to convert or the amount to receive and have the other value be calculated automatically accounting for gas fees. Give it a try and let us know what you think!

Conversion are currently available for Fern users who have gone through KYB. Each conversion must be less than $10,000 or 10,000 USDC. If you have any questions or feedback, send us a note at hello@fernhq.com.

February 29, 2024

Supporting additional L2s

Fern wallets are now deployed across 5 chains — Ethereum mainnet, Polygon, Arbitrum, OP mainnet, and Base. You can seamlessly transfer crypto across these networks and continue to use the same features that make payments on Fern easy, including automatic bridging across networks.

Wallet addresses

Your Fern wallet address remains the same across all supported networks. This makes your Safe multisig wallet easier to use across chains and ensure you receive funds sent across these networks.

Updates to automated bridging

When sending assets on Fern, if your destination address is on a different network than your assets, Fern will automatically bridge these assets to your destination network for you. See more details in our Polygon changelog.

With Fern now supporting additional chains (5 networks at this time), Fern will look to see if your wallet has sufficient balances across two of these chains, and then will bridge from these chains to your destination chain as needed.

We’re excited to continue enabling smooth multi-chain crypto operations. As always, we welcome your feedback and requests at hello@fernhq.com.

February 23, 2024

Simplified onboarding experience

We have simplified the Fern onboarding experience so that anyone can sign up to use Fern as a crypto wallet without having to complete KYC/KYB first. Additionally, Fern is now available to individuals as well as organizations.

Simplified onboarding

With this release, you no longer have to fill out a Know Your Customer/Business (KYC/KYB) form during initial onboarding. You simply answer a few short questions so we can customize the product to you, and then you’re off to the races.

Answer a few simple questions when getting started so we can customize your Fern account

Fern is still invite-only. You can fill out this form to request an invite.

Accessing Fern’s USD wallet and on/offramps

If you are interested in getting access to a Fern USD account and our seamless on/offramp experience, you will need to complete KYB. The KYB process today is restricted to US-registered entities; we plan to support individuals and additional geographies over time.

You will see pointers to complete the KYB process in your Fern home page, and/or in your profile menu. Fern will provide updates on your application in the app as well as over email.

Track your progress through the KYB application on your Fern Home page and in your profile menu

Once your KYB application has been approved, you will have unrestricted access to all Fern features, including a Fern USD account and on/offramp functionality.

Fern now supports individuals

It is now possible for individuals to use Fern. When you complete initial onboarding, you can select whether you plan to use Fern as an individual or as an organization. The rest of your product experience will be customized accordingly.

Fern can now onboard individuals, in addition to organizations

Feedback

If you have any feedback, feature requests, or just want to chat, drop us a line at hello@fernhq.com.

February 13, 2024

Polygon

We’re excited to share that Fern is now officially multi-chain, with our recent addition of support for Polygon. As part of our Polygon rollout, we’ve also introduced a number of UX improvements that make it easy to reliably interact with your multi-chain Fern wallets.

Your wallets

  • All Fern crypto wallets have been upgraded to automatically support Polygon.
  • We guarantee that all Fern wallets maintain the same address across supported chains, so your Fern multisigs will have the same address across Ethereum mainnet and Polygon. This enables you to receive payments on both networks knowing that your assets will end up in the right place.
  • We have updated the wallet linking experience so you can now save wallet addresses by network.

Contact wallets

  • You can now add contact payment wallets by specifying currency and network. This enables you to be very clear that a contact’s payment account can accept a specific currency and exists on the stated network. If your contact has a wallet that can support multiple networks and currencies, you can add these as additional payment accounts for that contact.

Chain-agnostic USDC and supported currencies

  • Fern currently supports USDC and ETH. As a result, there are now three different asset flavors available on Fern — USDC on Polygon, USDC on Ethereum mainnet, and ETH on Ethereum mainnet.
  • You can always see chain-specific currency balances from your accounts views. However, in various parts of the product, Fern shows you your USDC balance as one chain-agnostic USDC balance. We want to reduce cognitive overhead for you as much as possible when you’re thinking about transferring crypto. We accomplish this with automated bridging (see next section).

Automated bridging

  • When making a crypto transfer, if your funds are on a different network than the destination network, Fern will let you know how much needs to be bridged and the exact route your funds will take to their destination. You confirm the transaction, and Fern will do the bridging behind the scenes for you.
  • Say you have 10,000.00 USDC on Ethereum mainnet and 1,000.00 USDC on Polygon. You want to transfer 1,500.00 USDC to a contact's wallet on Polygon. Fern will display the route your funds will take, including bridging 500.00 USDC from Ethereum mainnet to Polygon automatically and then transferring the total amount to your destination address.
  • Note: Fern currently covers the cost of gas for all transactions (except offramps), including the cost of automatic bridging.
  • The Payment and Transfer experiences are updated with automated bridging features.

Offramps

  • Offramps have been updated to automatically bridge to Polygon before initiating the offramp process. If your funds are already on Polygon, no bridging will be needed. These updates should result in reduced gas fees for offramp transactions across the board.

Payment requests

  • When you create a new payment request, you now have the ability to select which networks you’re willing to accept payment on.
  • If you select more than one network as an accepted payment method, those fulfilling your payment requests will get to choose which network they want to use for the transaction.

Feedback?

We’d love to hear what you think about these changes, or if you have any other requests or feedback for Fern. Send us a note at hello@fernhq.com.