Former Visa Exec-Led Startup Ships Nearly 4,000 Crypto Cards in a Week

Published at: June 27, 2019

Crypterium, crypto payment firm led by former Visa exec, has shipped about 4,000 crypto debit cards in a week since the launch of the card, according to a press release on June 27.

Crypterium, an Estonia-headquartered fintech company, launched its Crypterium Card on June 12, offering global community a prepaid card loaded with major cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), litecoin (LTC), USD Coin (USDC), as well as Crypterium’s own CRPT token.

As the company wrote in the announcement, the new bitcoin card operates “in the same way as a traditional prepaid card,” enabling online and in-store crypto purchases on a number of services including Amazon, Netflix, as well as tuition fees, or medical bills, among others. With that, users can also cash out from “any of the 2 million” automatic teller machines (ATMs), with funds converted automatically to local currencies.

Crypterium has managed to deliver 3,736 Crypterium Cards to around 70 countries in the first week after the launch of the solution, citing “booming demand” amid the current BTC price surge and nascent bull market.

While the majority of card orders have come from the United States, the firm also noted a significant demand from the Asia-Pacific region, with Australia ranking third by orders. Exceptional demand, in particular, came from countries with weak local currencies and unstable economies.

Steven Parker, former General Manager of global payment giant Visa, said that these impressive numbers reflect the actual global demand for a “stable debit card” that provides equal status to crypto and traditional currencies in terms of payments.

On June 11, U.S.-based crypto exchange and wallet service Coinbase launched its Visa debit card in six European countries, enabling customers to sync their cards directly to their Coinbase accounts and withdraw fiat currencies from ATMs.

Earlier this week, Cointelegraph reported that the total number of global bitcoin ATMs (BTMs) has reached 5,000.

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Adoption
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