Wirex, Visa Team on Crypto-Backed Visa Card

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Cryptocurrency platform Wirex has more than 150,000 registrations on its cryptocurrency app that launched in the U.S. six weeks ago and will work with Visa on a crypto-backed card to offer a suite of payment and crypto-related services, according to a company announcement Tuesday (May 10) emailed to PYMNTS.

“Regardless of age, background or experience, we’re endeavoring to enable mainstream users to take advantage of the benefits of crypto in the everyday,” said Wirex USA Managing Director Harold Montgomery in the announcement.

Wirex’s U.S. product will offer users the ability to buy, hold, exchange and sell U.S. dollars and 37 cryptocurrencies from its app, which allows them to send and receive crypto from external wallets with free domestic and international ATM withdrawals, no annual fee or exchange fees, near-instant crypto transactions and live transaction notifications with instant debit card top-up at zero cost, the announcement stated.

The company enabled on-chain transactions for selected cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, litecoin and dogecoin, last week.

“We want to serve as the bridge between the crypto ecosystem and our global network of merchants and financial institutions,” said AJ Shanley, vice president of Visa Crypto, in the announcement.

Wirex launched one of the world’s first crypto-enabled debit cards in 2015 through its longstanding partnership with Visa, allowing consumers to spend their digital currency through real-time conversion at points of sale (POS), according to the announcement.

The company has also developed the Cryptoback crypto rewards program, which allows users to earn up to 8% in X-Points for all purchases and have that money automatically added to their Wirex account in-app, the announcement stated. The European Economic Area and Asia-Pacific (APAC) regions have more than 5 million Wirex customers. The company has connections with more than 80 million merchant locations around the world.

Earlier this month, payments platform Paysafe announced an expanded relationship with Visa to continue the integration of the real-time push payments solution Visa Direct.

Read more: UK’s Paysafe Further Collabs With Visa Direct for Real-Time Payments