American multinational financial services corporation Visa Inc. has selected Wirex, a crypto payment platform, as a principal member in Europe. Principal membership will allow Wirex to issue Visa cards themselves, the company said in an official announcement.
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Wirex already has over 3 million clients across the European and Asian regions. The company says it has experienced a 271% increase in the number of crypto exchanges on their platform compared to this time last year. Visa's Senior Director and Head of Cryptocurrency, Cuy Sheffield, notes cryptocurrencies have the potential "to extend the value of digital payments to a greater number of people and places."
"We are excited to work with innovative Fintech’s like Wirex, and enable their customers to use digital currencies at more than 61 million merchants on the Visa network," added Sheffield.
In October 2020, Wirex reported it had attracted almost $4.9 million (£3.7 million) from 7,000 investors among 94 countries.
The startup claims it managed to raise $1.3 million in just 90 minutes and surpassed the initial crowdfunding goal by 370%. In September, Wirex launched a new multicurrency Wirex Card, supported by Mastercard. The card is linked to 19 cryptocurrency and traditional currency accounts in the Wirex app, and allows cardholders to spend multiple fiat and cryptocurrencies with no need for exchange.
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