United States-based cryptocurrency exchange and wallet service Coinbase has launched its Visa debit card in six European countries, CNBC reports on June 11.
As of today, cardholders in Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Ireland and the Netherlands will be able to use the cards, which sync directly to their Coinbase accounts. The card comes as both a mobile app for iOS or Android, and as a physical card that can be used to withdraw fiat currencies from automatic teller machines.
Coinbase’s new offering purportedly allow users to spend cryptocurrencies they hold at any merchant that accepts Visa cards. Users can decide which cryptocurrency they wish to use to make a payment in the app, while Coinbase subsequently converts the crypto to cash, for a fee.
Coinbase U.K. CEO Zeeshan Feroz said, “You can buy groceries on bitcoin (BTC) and then coffee on litecoin (LTC) right after.”
The card first launched for users in the United Kingdom in April of this year. The card was issued by Paysafe Financial Services Limited, which is regulated by the Financial Services Authority as a certified issuer of electronic money and payment instruments.
The San Francisco-based exchange has been expanding its offerings significantly over the course of the year. Last month, it expanded trading services to 50 more countries and added trading support for its stablecoin USDC in 85 countries. Coinbase also added the dai stablecoin to its Coinbase Earn program, which rewards users with crypto for watching educational videos.
Despite its recent additions, Coinbase Vice President of Business, Data and International Emilie Choi said that it is not currently investing in the decentralized exchange sector even after the acquisition of decentralized peer-to-peer trading platform Paradex last year. Choi said:
“We have to make sure that if we offer a dex that we’re doing it in a way that is safe and secure and compliant. I think that there’s not a lot of clarity right now on how that would work. We think this space is interesting but we’re not actively investing in it right at this moment.”
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