UK Payments Company Wirex Becomes Visa Global Partner, Extends Crypto Card Program Reach to Over 40 Countries

Wirex, a London-based digital payments company, has announced it has become a global partner of Visa, to allow the company to bring its card services to more markets in the world. The new partnership means that Wirex will be able to offer its crypto card services to APAC and U.K. markets.

Wirex, a payments and crypto company based in London, has reached a long-term service agreement with credit card giant Visa. With this move, qualified as a significant milestone by the company, Wirex will now be able to reach customers in new markets, targeting areas like APAC and the U.K.

The company, which offers cryptocurrency-linked card services, will be able to reach customers in over 40 countries with this partnership. The company claims it was the first one to bring this kind of service to mainstream audiences in 2015, also in partnership with Visa. The partnership builds on prior Wirex endeavors, which became a principal member of Visa in Europe in 2020, and raised $15 million in its Series B funding round in 2022.

Matt Wood, head of digital partnerships at Visa in the Asia Pacific region, stated:

Visa wants to bring more payment options to consumers by connecting digital currencies with our network of banks and merchants. We’re excited that Wirex is expanding their focus on Asia Pacific, making it easy and seamless for people to spend their crypto balance at the millions of merchants that accept Visa in the region.

The objective of this partnership is to bring more cryptocurrency-linked payment means to more markets around the world, allowing digital natives to pay with crypto even at legacy merchants. Customers of Wirex cards can use their cryptocurrencies to pay at 80 million locations where Visa is accepted worldwide, receiving 8% cashback at the same time.

The U.S. is one of the markets that will support major collaboration thanks to this agreement, ostensibly allowing the company to better compete with other crypto card businesses in the area. Svyatoslav Garal, Wirex APAC regional managing director, praised the role of Visa in bringing crypto opportunities to more countries. He stated:

It’s great to strengthen our partnership with Visa, who have played an important role in allowing us to bridge the gap between the traditional and digital economies.

Wirex also announced it would complete another card partnership related to Australia in the coming weeks, expanding its global service footprint.

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