Visa Grants Principal Membership to Crypto Payments Platform Wirex

London-based crypto-payments platform Wirex can now issue Visa accounts and process transactions autonomously, as the firm became a principal member of the payments giant.

Crypto Payments Platform Wirex Gets Principal Membership From Visa to Issue Cards Autonomously

According to the announcement, Wirex has been added to the European network of Visa as a member after long-lasting cooperation, whose customer base has over 3 million in the APAC and EEA countries. The company enables its users to transfer crypto and fiat currencies globally through the platform.

With the membership, Wirex becomes the second crypto company after Coinbase to get such kind of membership, although this is not the first payment giant the London-based firm partnered with.

On July 20, 2020, the company also teamed up with Mastercard to directly secure a principal membership to issue cards supporting both crypto and fiat currencies.

The latest figures revealed by Wirex show that the company had experienced a 271% increase in the number of crypto exchanges on their platform compared to December 2019. It also launched its first crypto-enabled debit card in 2014.

Cryptocurrencies and Payment Giants

Cuy Sheffield, senior director and head of cryptocurrency at Visa, commented on the announcement:

Digital currencies have the potential to extend the value of digital payments to a greater number of people and places. We’re 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.

Moreover, Pavel Matveev, CEO and co-founder of Wirex, believes that achieving this principal membership from Visa paves the road to catch more opportunities to continue developing “a revolutionary product.”

Wirex is also preparing the ground to land in the US market, as they’re about to launch a single currency Visa card. However, Wirex is not the only one who offers bitcoin-based cards in the crypto sphere, as exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase offer such products.