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Crypto payments platform Wirex has recently acquired principal membership in Europe’s network of Visa. With its new status, the London-based crypto firm can now issue Visa cards and process transactions autonomously.
Wirex announced on Tuesday, December 22, that it has secured principal membership from the global payments firm Visa for the latter’s European network, according to Bitcoin.com. Bitcoin.com reported. The principal membership status allows Wirex the capability of issuing Visa cards themselves.
The London-based crypto payments platform becomes the second crypto firm to acquire such kind of membership from Visa. San Francisco, California-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase was able to secure its Visa principal membership earlier.
Wirex was granted principal membership after having successfully completed Visa's FinTech Fast Track Programme, according to its press release. The company can now tap its over 3 million customers in the APAC and EEA regions for its new card offering.
The platform has experienced a rapid rise in cryptocurrency usage recently. The company revealed that crypto transactions rose by 271 percent since last year.
“It's been our core goal to unite the traditional and digital economies, and collaborations with trusted global payments companies such as Visa are making this possible by providing straight and cost-effective solutions for utilizing crypto every day,” said Wirex co-founder and CEO Pavel Matveev. “It's no easy feat to achieve principal membership and will present numerous opportunities to continue developing a revolutionary product.”
Visa senior director and head of cryptocurrency Cuy Sheffield believes that cryptocurrency can expand the reach of digital payments as its adoption increases. Wirex’s partnership with Visa would allow its clients to use crypto to pay for products and services at over 61 million merchants.
“Digital currencies have the potential to extend the value of digital payments to a greater number of people and places,” Sheffield explained. “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.”
This is not the first time Wirex has partnered with a payments giant to expand the reach of its services. Back in June 2020, it also secured principal membership status with Mastercard allowing it to issue cards that support both crypto and fiat currencies.
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