Visa Ends FTX Debit Card Deal After ‘Unfortunate’ Developments

The ongoing fallout from cryptocurrency exchange FTX’s failure now reportedly includes the end of the company’s month-old debit card partnership with Visa.

“The situation with FTX is unfortunate and we are monitoring developments closely,” a spokesperson for Visa told PYMNTS Monday (Nov. 14). “We have terminated our global agreements with FTX, and their U.S. debit card program is being wound down by their issuer.”

FTX teamed with Visa in October to launch debit cards linked directly to users’ FTX accounts in 40 countries. The partnership was due to kick off in Latin America, followed by Europe and Asia.

“At Visa, we believe that digital currencies will have a lasting impact on the future of financial services and money movement,” said Visa Head of Crypto Cuy Sheffield in a news release at the time.

So far, much of the impact of FTX’s collapse has involved other crypto companies, such as BlockFi, which announced on Twitter Friday (Nov. 11) that it was pausing client withdrawals and limiting activity on its platform.

Writing that it was “shocked and dismayed by the news regarding FTX and Alameda,” the company said a lack of clarity on the status of FTX meant it was “not able to operate business as usual.”

BlockFi and FTX made an agreement in July for FTX U.S. to provide BlockFi a $400 million credit facility, with the option for FTX U.S. to purchase the smaller platform.

As PYMNTS’ Karen Webster wrote Monday, crypto experts have postulated that this deal — and FTX’s bailout of Voyager — was designed to prevent a run on FTX’s FTT tokens and stave off a liquidity crisis, the same type of crisis that came with the company’s collapse last week.

Other companies have sought to distance themselves from FTX, such as BitPay, whose CEO Stephen Pair told PYMNTS Monday that his company had no FTX exposure.

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