Visa and FTX to extend crypto debit card services to 40 new countries

Payments giant Visa announced ‘a long-term global partnership’ with crypto exchange FTX and West Realm Shires Services Inc. ​​to plans to extend their crypto debit card to several new countries worldwide with a particular emphasis on Latin America, Asia, and Europe. 

The card is already available in the U.S. and services will extend to Europe by the end of the year and will be offered in Asia with ‘additional regional launches planned for 2023.’

The cards provide instant access to a user’s FTX cryptocurrency investing account and enables spending with crypto balance from FTX sallets at 80 million merchant locations worldwide that accept Visa. 

The move allows clients the flexibility of spending cryptocurrencies without transferring them off an exchange ‘like you would with any bank account,’ said Visa’s CFO Vasant Prabhu to CNBC.

Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s head of Crypto, remarked, ‘At Visa, we believe that digital currencies will have a lasting impact on the future of financial services and money movement.’

Photo: FTX