As the cryptocurrency space continues to expand, bridging the gap between digital currencies and currency is a top priority for many traditional financial institutions.
Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi has announced a partnership with Solaris, a European financial services provider, to launch a cryptocurrency prepaid debit card.
The Visa-approved program allows Huobi users to use their digital assets globally at any point of sale. Users residing in the European Economic Area (EEA) will have access to the card from the second quarter of 2023.
The EEA comprises the 27 Member States of the European Union (EU), as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
Andrea Ramoino, Solaris Chief Strategy Officer, commented on the partnership and gave hints on the future evolution of their collaboration with Huobi.
“This is just the first step in our collaboration, which will allow us to offer more payment options to users in the EEA region and beyond.”
This is not the first cryptocurrency debit card available to users in the region. In 2020, Binance launched its own Visa crypto card, which allows Europeans to withdraw funds directly from their Binance accounts.
Outside the EU, Visa has been an active advocate of bridging the gap between crypto assets and currency. In October 2022, Blockchain.com announced its partnership with Visa to offer a cryptocurrency debit card, which is only available to US residents.
Before its bankruptcy, FTX had also partnered with Visa to offer a debit card in 40 countries.
More recently, The financial services provider collaborated with fintech company ZELF to launch an anonymous debit card with cryptocurrency top-up. This allows users to open a US dollar-based checking account with just their name, email, and phone number.
Ahead of the start of 2023, Visa also hinted at a feature that would allow users to automatically pay bills from their cryptocurrency wallet.
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