Visa & CoinBase Partner Up for Debit Cards

If you are a long-term cryptocurrency user, chances are that you are aware of the previous Visa-based digital currency cards that allowed holders to spend their crypto at POS card terminals, or to easily withdraw cash at any ATM. After a few years of activity, Visa decided to cancel all crypto-based cards.

Now, recent reports indicate that Coinbase, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has teamed up with Visa and Paysafe, in order to provide customers with a Visa debt card that can be used to spend crypto held in user wallets. The cryptocurrency exchange is now a Visa Principal Member, which means that it can offer cards with innovative features, on multiple markets. So far, it seems like Coinbase is the first company to achieve this status.

In the long run, this partnership might entail that Coinbase’s Visa debit card will be available throughout Europe, but also on other continents such as North America, Asia, Africa and South America. According to the press release announcing this development, “the newly-obtained status is a significant milestone in the mainstream adoption of crypto (…) This membership will enable us to offer more features for Coinbase Card customers; from additional services to support in more markets — all elements that will help to evolve and enrich the cryptocurrency payment experience”

This statement definitely makes sense, granted that one of the main impediments towards mass adoption is user inability to freely spending crypto as they like, due to insufficient merchant adoption. Through crypto debit cards, the digital currency community will be able to take advantage of the current system, since point-of-sale terminals exist in most shops worldwide. We are excited to see whether other debit card providers will follow suit, and further facilitate the integration between cards and cryptocurrencies.

Featured Image via BigStock.