In brief
- Binance said its Visa cards are now available through the European Economic Area.
- The cards are issued by Swipe and run on Visa's payment network.
- But to get the cashback on offer, users have to hold a mighty amount of BNB.
Crypto exchange Binance said Wednesday its Binance Visa Card is now available for use throughout the European Economic Area, as per a release. The rollout was initially announced in July this year.
Crypto cards allow users to preload their accounts using supported cryptocurrencies, which are then converted to fiat and deducted from the balance during the time of payment at a retail location. In Binance's case, the money is taken directly from the user's trading account.
“Powered by Swipe, works like your traditional debit card. But instead of fiat, you’ll be holding digital assets, such as BTC, BNB, SXP, and BUSD. Your card is linked to a Card Wallet within your account, and you can replenish this wallet with funds stored in your Spot Wallet,” explained Binance in the release.
What is Binance Coin (BNB) ?
What is it? The main purpose of Binance Coin is to be used a medium of exchange on Binance, one of the most popular crypto exchanges. The coin’s ticker symbol is BNB. The main things to know are: 💸 Discount - Users who hold a number of coins and spend them on trading fees receive discounts. In 2018, there is a 25% rebate on trading fees which will reduce to 12.5% in 2019 and stay at 6.25% from 2020 onwards. 💱 Token - Binance Coin is an Ethereum-based ERC-20 token. It has a limit of 200 mil...
The cards are issued by Swipe, the crypto card company that Binance acquired in July earlier this year, and they operate on the payments network of international payment processor Visa. This allows users to use their cards in over 60 million retail locations around the world, or at any business that has an “accepts Visa” sign.
The bitcoin debit card can also be linked to Google Pay and Samsung Pay—the native digital payment applications managed by the two tech giants.
Binance unveils its Bitcoin debit card in Europe and UK
Binance has announced the launch of its crypto debit card in Europe and the United Kingdom, according to an announcement today. Dubbed Binance Card, it will let the exchange’s users spend their coins around the world. The Binance Card has been in the works for a while, and comes just a week after Binance made an acquisition of Swipe—a company focused on providing better technology for crypto debit cards. Binance CEO shares glimpse of Binance Card beta testing “Giving users the ability to convert...
Apart from the cryptopunk narrative of avoiding traditional banks, the card touts benefits such as zero transaction fees, no maintenance fees, and a loyalty system that provides cashback of up to 7% based on a user’s holdings of BNB, Binance’s native token, the release said.
To get the full 7%, however, a user has to be holding $160,000 of BNB at current rates. Even to get 2%, they need to hold at least $270. Not bad for the BNB whales then.
