Crypto payments are gaining momentum despite the prolonged market downturn.
Sam Bankman-Fried-led crypto exchange FTX has teamed up with payments giant Visa to roll out crypto debit cards in 40 countries across Europe, Latin America, and Asia.
FTX Announces Crypto-Powered Visa Debit Cards In More 40 Countries
FTX is extending its Visa debit card offering internationally through a partnership with Visa, nine months after unveiling it in the United States.
FTX users will be able to directly pay with crypto while shopping using debit cards “like you would with any bank account”, as CNBC reported. According to the exchange’s founder and CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, such crypto debit cards can potentially disrupt legacy payment systems.
Customers in more than 40 Latin America, Asia, and Europe countries will be allowed to spend their crypto funds at over 80 million global Visa card-accepting merchants. The exchange doesn’t charge users any administrative or processing fees.
FTX currently supports the buying, selling, and custody of a multitude of crypto assets, including Bitcoin, Ether, Cardano, Dogecoin, and Solana.
The move also confirms Visa’s intentions to support crypto even as its value dwindles this year. Visa CFO Vasant Prabhu said:
“Even though values have come down there’s still steady interest in crypto. We don’t have a position as a company on what the value of cryptocurrency should be, or whether it’s a good thing in the long run — as long as people have things they want to buy, we want to facilitate it.”
At the time of writing, it’s unclear whether FTX users will also earn rewards for spending their crypto via the debit card, as with rival exchange Coinbase, which has cash-back spending reward features.
FTT Soars On Visa Partnership News
It’s important to mention that bringing crypto to retail commerce is one of the cornerstones of boosting its mainstream adoption. Total retail sales in the United States alone are projected to hit $7.9 trillion by 2026. Grabbing even a tiny fraction of this market can grow the entire crypto industry by leaps and bounds.
FTX’s native token, FTT, jumped by 8% following news of the partnership but cooled off slightly and is currently changing hands for about $24.79 per coin. Still, FTT is trading 70.5% down from the all-time high price of $84.18 it registered in September 2021.
