Wirex Becomes Principal Member of Visa in Europe
- Wirex has secured a principal membership in Visa’s
Europe network. - The membership will enable the company to issue Visa cards and offer new products.
Image from Shutterstock
After completing the Visa FinTech Fast Track Programme, Wirex has secured a principal membership in the its network that will allow the company to issue Visa cards.
According to the Wirex’s press release published on 22 December, the firm is set to utilize the membership to offer new products to its customers and apply for additional licenses.
Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s Senior Director and Head of Cryptocurrency, said that Visa was excited to work with innovative fintech companies like Wirex. He believes that digital currencies can extend the value of digital payments to a greater number of people and places.
Wirex first collaborated with Visa in 2014, when it issued the world’s first contactless crypto-enabled debit card. The company also launched a cryptocurrency rewards scheme called Cryptoback™, which rewards users up to 1.5% back in Bitcoin for any purchases made with their Visa debit card.
The new Visa membership will enable the company to overhaul its rewards program and roll out its services in the U.S.
Pavel Matveev, CEO and co-founder of Wirex, said their core goal has always been to unite the traditional economy with the digital one. Collaborating with global payment companies such as Visa made this possible by providing straight and cost-effective solutions for utilizing cryptocurrencies in the real world, he added.
“It’s no easy feat to achieve principal membership,” Matveev said in the company’s release. “It will present numerous opportunities to continue developing a revolutionary product.”
- The payments giant has proposed the creation of new self-custodial wallets, called “delegable accounts”, using the “account abstraction” (AA) method.
- As Ethereum does not yet support AA, Visa implemented its new wallet type on layer 2 scaling solution StarkNet, and successfully enabled automated recurring payments.
Close up of VISA sign at global headquarters in Silicon Valley, Foster City, CA, 24 August 2019. Sundry Photography/Shutterstock
- The “Visa Global Back to Business Study – 2022 SMB Outlook” revealed that 73% of small businesses thought new digital payments were important to their growth.
- 24% are already planning to accept crypto as payments, while 82% said they would implement “some” form of digital payments in 2022.
- Visa’s Universal Payment Channel (UPC) will connect multiple blockchain networks.
- Once launched, the new concept will allow for a quick and seamless transfer of CBDCs and stablecoins between various networks.