We are at a crucial point in the history of cryptocurrency where large institutions can no longer ignore the growing cryptocurrency sector. This has been seen in the last year with companies like CashApp, PayPal, JP Morgan, and so on. The increased use of cryptocurrency has created a viable and lucrative market that more and more payment processors are trying to get in on.
One of the latest of these is Visa, which recently announced that they have added Wirex to its European Network as a principal member. Wirex is a London-based payment processor that works heavily with cryptocurrency, making this a coup for the industry.
Wirex Teams Up With Visa
The implications of this new development are far-reaching as Wirex can now issue Visa cards. However, this is not the first time that the two firms are working together as the two have been in a long-term partnership. Wirex, on their part, have over 3 million users in APAC and EEA countries who can use their cards to spend both fiat currency and cryptocurrency.
However, as the two are seeing more interaction in the modern economy, there is the need to expand on these efforts and thus, the deal with Visa. This deal is also coming at a very beneficial time for the industry. By Wirex’s account, there has been a 271% increase in crypto exchanges on their platform, meaning consumers are seeking out crypto-related services more than ever.
There are many reasons for this such as the COVID-19 outbreak that saw many consumers turning to fintech solutions after traditional banking halls were closed. The move by PayPal earlier this year also opened the floodgates for merchants to begin accepting crypto and it seems others are following suit.
The excitement towards this project was echoed by Visa’s head of cryptocurrency, Cuy Sheffield who said that his company is happy to be in business with Wirex. By being a part of the Visa family, he added, users can spend their crypto with over 61 million merchants.
The use of cryptocurrency for the domestic payment for goods and services is fast becoming the norm thanks to announcements like this. Using the Wirex app, users can trade cryptocurrency and when they use their Wirex cards to make purchases in crypto, they can get up to 1.5% of their funds back.
