Binance Card, a newly launched cryptocurrency debit card powered by Binance and the Binance-owned crypto commerce company Swipe, could soon enter the United States. This is all thanks to a new partnership which unlocks direct USD deposits for users in the country. Announcing the news to Cointelegraph on Monday, Swipe representatives said that USD checking accounts will be enabled on the platform through a partnership with Evolve Bank & Trust — a banking institution operating in the United States. Swipe users will be able to directly deposit their paychecks into these newly available accounts from Evolve Bank & Trust, and …

Chiliz.net and Socios.com, a major industry tandem specializing in blockchain-based fan tokens, are rolling out their Visa debit card. As officially announced on Aug. 14, the Socios.com Visa debit card allows global fans to “be more than a fan” — earn fan tokens-powered financial rewards and club-related benefits from making purchases through the card. Alexandre Dreyfus, CEO at Chiliz and Socios, told Cointelegraph that the new debit card is now being tested by a limited pool of users. According to the executive, the Socios.com visa debit Card will roll out for mainstream users in early Q3 2020. According to the …

The first Litecoin (LTC) native Visa debit card is being launched by BlockCard. Charlie Lee told Cointelegraph this is their second attempt at the endeavour as the previous one failed: “We previously worked with LitePay on a debit card but that failed when LitePay went out of business.” Lee also drew a distinction between this Litecoin-native debit card and other crypto cards that support the currency: “There are other crypto debit cards available today that support Litecoin, but they only support funding with LTC. This card is natively LTC, so funds are kept in LTC until you swipe the card.” …

The crypto-enabled investment app eToro is set to launch its debit card in the United Kingdom as it acquired Marq Millions Ltd, a licensed e-money business holding a principal Visa membership. As reported by TechCrunch on July 29, eToro “acqui-hired” Marq Millions Ltd., a U.K.-based e-money provider for an undisclosed sum. The company will now be doing business as eToro Money and will be the direct issuer of eToro’s planned debit card. Marq Millions’ management team will stay on in the eToro Money division. The debit cards, whose launch date is still unknown, will initially be available to eToro Club …

Binance’s highly-anticipated cryptocurrency debit card, Binance Card, is officially debuting in countries of the European Economic Area, or EEA. Binance told Cointelegraph on July 14 that EEA-based users will be able to apply for a Binance Card starting in August. While the United Kingdom will follow in the near future, users in other regions are invited to “register their interest” via the Binance Card website, the firm said. As previously reported, Swipe is currently available in 31 countries within the EEA, including countries like France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, among others. Swipe is not yet available in the United States, …

Binance’s CEO has just demonstrated the first use of Binance Card, a cryptocurrency debit card that was first announced by Binance in April 2020. In a July 10 tweet, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao revealed that he is taking part in Binance Card beta testing, featuring transactions involving Binance’s native token, BNB. In the tweet, CZ noted that the beta test features “all real transactions” including Amazon’s audio store Audible, Uber alternative Grab, and a major e-commerce platform, Lazada. CZ also said that the BNB payments were completed directly from his Binance account, while merchants accepted the payment in fiat. “Binance …

The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has completed its second acquisition in 2020. Both acquisitions appear to further indicate Binance’s interest in crypto debit card issuance. After acquiring the industry’s most popular website, CoinMarketCap, in April 2020, Binance has now acquired Swipe, a Philippines-headquartered firm focused on crypto-to-fiat Visa debit cards. Binance and Swipe officially announced the acquisition on July 6, claiming that the new collaboration will push “further mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies” by bringing the gap between fiat and digital assets. Binance and Swipe “will be working closely together to launch crypto debit cards” While the official announcements do …

Some of the most impactful frauds in modern history, from the Enron scandal to the Bernie Madoff investment scheme, were carried out by malignant actors inside or at the helm of corporate entities who manipulated the tangled, esoteric financial records. This is precisely the kind of behavior blockchain technology is designed to obliterate. The rapid demise of the German financial technology company Wirecard, which established itself in the blockchain community as a major crypto debit card issuer, seemingly belongs to the same category of events. In the long term, it might contribute to the growing public demand for increased transparency …

Wirecard’s subsidiary responsible for issuing debit cards, Wirecard Card Solutions Ltd., has been suspended by the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority, or FCA. According to a statement issued on June 26 by the regulator, Wirecard’s subsidiary is required to not dispose of any of its funds, stop conducting any of its regulated activity, and it must communicate on its website and to its customers that it is no longer permitted to conduct regulated activity. As of press time, however, such statements are not present on any of Wirecard’s websites, including the subsidiary’s dedicated domain. The FCA explained that following the …

Troubled fintech company Wirecard, which powers many of the crypto debit cards on the market, has reportedly filed to open insolvency proceedings. As reported by Wall Street Journal and others, Wirecard filed an application with the Munich district court to begin preparing for insolvency resolution procedures. The company cited its “impending insolvency and over-indebtedness” as motivation for the filing, alluding to the $2.1 billion of its balance sheet that went missing. Events unfolded quickly for Wirecard since discovering that 32% of its balance sheet never existed. The company quickly became leaderless as the founding CEO and other top executives resigned, …

The former chief executive officer of Wirecard, a German fintech company, has been detained by Munich police after being charged with misrepresenting the company’s balances. As reported by Reuters and many others, Markus Braun, who led the company for the better part of two decades, has been arrested by police in Munich, Germany. According to a statement issued by the prosecutor’s office, he is accused of having conspired to inflate assets and total revenue through false transactions with “third-party acquirers.” This was done to make the company appear more attractive to investors, the prosecutors say. The misrepresented funds in question, …

Cryptocurrency debit card firm Crypto.com is now a member of the Open Payments Coalition, alongside more than 40 other finance and technology firms. According to a June 18 announcement, admittance to the Open Payments Coalition will add Crypto.com’s 2 million users to a payment network of over 100 million members. Open Payments Coalition members have access to the PayID system, which allows users to send payments in any currency between any platform involved in the coalition. Users can send these transactions with nothing more than a human-readable ID, which is valid across all member services. This story is currently in …