The London-headquartered Wirex is a cryptocurrency payment processor, regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, and has legal permission to issue disburse cryptocurrency cards in Europe.
Mastercard will back the intended multi-currency Wirex Card, which will support 19 crypto and fiat currency accounts operated via Wirex app. No schedule for the roll out of the card has been announced so far.
In an attempt to foster the adoption of crypto for day-to-day payments, the company is also overhauling its prevailing “Cryptoback” rewards program, which had so far rewarded clients with a maximum of 1.5% cash back in the form of Bitcoin (BTC) for in-store dealings.
From here on, up to 2% rewards will be offered for online and in-store purchases, with a maximum of 6% annual reward on users’ natie Wirex Token balance.
Before rolling out Mastercard backed card, Wirex will also introduce many more facilities by capitalizing on the partnership with LHV, which provides solutions for payment processing.
The planned features are already available in the EEA (European Economic Area). This includes support for five new currencies, namely Czech Koruna, Croatian Kuna, Romanian leu, Polish zloty and Hungarian forint.
Earlier in 2020, the platform recorded more than three million active users, witnessing adoption among numerous mainstream shoppers “who are not typically hardcore cryptocurrency users.”
Wirex’s service facilitates users in 130 nations to make payments via cryptos and fiat money through the prevailing tailor-made Visa card and mobile app. There are firm indications of strengthening relationships between crypto and plastic worlds, with Visa and Mastercard leading the fray by entering into business relationships with cryptocurrency related firms.
Coinbase’s card was the foremost physical cryptocurrency card to be rolled out in the US market and backed by both Mastercard and Visa payment networks.
In 2020, Mastercard has reached out to cryptocurrency exchanges and remittance service providers to promote its recently scaled up cryptocurrency card lineup. In June, Visa’s revealed its strategy towards cryptos that confirmed the industry view that cryptocurrencies have turned into “a concept that is gaining traction beyond fintechs.”