Binance to Launch Prepaid Crypto Card in Argentina
- Binance Card was launched in Argentina in partnership with Mastercard, allowing users to maker purchases using crypto at over 90 million merchants globally.
- The card will not only allow customers to make payments using crypto, but also make cash ATM withdrawals, as well as earn up to 8% back on certain purchases.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao. CryptoMonedaseICOs
Popular cryptocurrency exchange Binance has partnered with payments provider Mastercard to launch a prepaid crypto card for residents of Argentina, the company said in a press release on 4 August.
According to the announcement, the exchange’s new product is still in beta phase, but will be widely available in Argentina in the coming weeks. The Binance Card will not only allow users to make purchases and pay bills using crypto, but also make cash ATM withdrawals anywhere Mastercard is accepted, which is roughly 90 million merchants globally. The general director of Binance Latin America, Maximiliano Hinz, said in a statement:
“Payments is one of the first and most obvious use cases for crypto, yet adoption has a lot of room to grow. By using the Binance Card, merchants continue to receive fiat and the users pay in cryptocurrency they choose. We believe the Binance Card is a significant step in encouraging wider crypto use and global adoption and now it is available for users from Argentina.”
In order to acquire the card — which allows users to earn up to 8% back in crypto on certain purchases — Argentines will need to have a valid national identity card, a requirement that is already in place for credit cards. Argentina — where “crypto penetration” has reached 12% — is the first Latin America country yo debut a Binance Card, though the exchange had made a similar offering in the European Economic Area (EEA) in 2020.
On Friday, Binance also announced it will be adding support for three new altcoins to Binance Card — namely Ripple (XRP), Shiba Inu (SHIB), and Avalanche (AVAX) — which expands its support to 14 crypto assets. This change, however, will only apply to its EEA card, and not to the newly launched card in Argentina.
- The company said it will be suspending its crypto-backed debit card service in the Middle East on 25 August, and in Latin America by 21 September.
- Although no reason was given for the decision, the company noted that “less than 1% of users” in those regions will be affected by the change.
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- A spokesperson said the change was due to the “changing market and user needs”, and that Binance will now be refocusing its resources on its main products and long-term goals.
- Launched in March 2022, Binance Connect helped crypto businesses connect with the traditional finance system, and supported 50 cryptocurrencies and networks such as Visa and Mastercard.
- Scheduled for 7 July, the suspension will impact AVA, SPELL, BIFI, ALPACA, POLS, ACH, SUPER, and FARM on the BNB Smart Chain, Fantom, Avalanche, and Ethereum networks.
- Binance clarified that trading of these tokens will not be impacted, and that users will still be able to deposit and withdraw them through alternative networks that do not involve the Multichain project.