Brazil’s central bank has ordered Mastercard and Visa to suspend processing money transfers on behalf of Facebook’s WhatsApp. According to official information shared with Cointelegraph Brazil, the Central Bank of Brazil (BC) took action against WhatsApp Pay “to preserve an adequate competitive environment” and allow the central bank to assess the risks posed by the firm to the country's existing financial sector. Visa and Mastercard will face heavy fines and administrative sanctions if they do not suspend activities relating to WhatsApp payments. Bank will assess the risks The Central Bank of Brazil (BC) has moved to suspend the operations of …

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) aren’t really easy to spend in day-to-day life, mainly because retailers prefer to stay away from crypto’s volatility. In order to build a bridge between traditional finance and emergent assets like Bitcoin, a Swiss crypto startup called Eidoo has introduced a new Visa crypto debit card that uses regulated stablecoins for crypto-to-fiat conversion. The so-called Eidoo Card has been approved for operation by payment giant Visa. Announcing the news on May 25, Eidoo told Cointelegraph that its new card will enable 40 million Visa merchants to accept crypto-derived fiat currencies, including the British pound (GBP) and …

Leading cryptocurrency payments platform Crypto.com announced that it has received regulatory approval for its Visa card program in Canada, and will soon be rolling out MCO Visa cards in the country. MCO Visa cards are prepaid cards that can be topped up with cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), XRP, and Crypto.com’s native MCO token. The company said that citizens of Canada can now book their crypto cards through a three-minute customer onboarding process and ID verification on the Crypto.com App. This comes only a few days after the company announced that it was expanding its MCO Visa …

Visa has filed an application to create digital currency on a blockchain with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. According to the application published May 14 — but filed back in November 2018 — inventors Simon Hurry and Alexander Pierre with the Visa International Service Association in San Francisco have sought a patent for a digital currency recorded on a blockchain and controlled by a central entity computer. It cites Ethereum as a possible network. The application details two records, one of which would indicate “the digital currency for an amount associated with the denomination has been created for …

Cryptocurrency Visa card platform Swipe announced a partnership with Samsung Pay on May 1. The integration allows Samsung Pay users to make payments from their Swipe Visa card balances using Samsung Pay-enabled devices. The firm claims to have become the first digital wallet platform to provide multi-national support for both Google Pay and Samsung Pay. The integration allows Swipe cardholders in the United Kingdom and European Union to make payments from their crypto balances at over 50 million locations globally. Swipe COO John Khenneth, told Cointelegraph that the firm’s relationship with Samsung was formed through mutual issuing bank Contis Financial. …

The Bitcoin Association, which promotes Bitcoin SV, says the BSV network now rivals credit card processor VISA in terms of transactions per second. It also claims BSV transaction processors (miners) receive “better returns” than on BTC. In its first annual report, the Bitcoin Association (BA) said the Bitcoin SV scaling test network had “consistently sustained 1,300 transactions per second for a prolonged period, in addition to handling a peak load of 6,400 transactions per second” “To put the transaction capacity in perspective, the VISA network, which has long been viewed as the gold-standard for payment processors, handles an average of …

Bitmain-affiliated financial service platform Matrixport has teamed up with Simplex, an EU-licensed payments processing firm, to allow users to purchase select cryptocurrencies using their credit and debit cards. Matrixport users can buy seven cryptocurrencies with most popular fiat currencies As part of the partnership with Simplex, Matrixport users from across the globe are now able to buy seven cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), DASH and Tether (USDT) via Visa or Mastercard using the platform’s website or mobile app, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph. There are more than 20 supported …

Liechtenstein-based international cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex Global has rolled out credit and debit card support for 125 more countries. Following an earlier introduction of the service for residents in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and the Netherlands, the exchange announced its significant global extension of Visa support on April 20. In addition to making fiat deposits and trading directly using their Visa cards, users can now access further features such as conditional orders and trading with euros on the platform’s recently-launched Bittrex Euromarkets. Stephen Stonberg, chief financial and operating officer for Bittrex Global has said that Visa support is an important …

Mass adoption. It’s a mantra touted often in this space and what every crypto company is working toward. While tremendous progress has been made in the past 10 years on driving crypto awareness and improving user experience, we still aren’t there yet in terms of mass utilization. In order for real adoption to occur, the crypto ecosystem needs to seamlessly interact with the existing financial system. Think back to the very first time you bought Bitcoin (BTC). It’s scary. You take your “real” money and put it into the computer to get back magic internet money. You need to move …

London-based crypto payment processor Wirex has revealed that it now has over 3 million active users, highlighting the popularity of its crypto-supporting visa card among customers. Wirex is a company licensed by the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) which allows crypto users to spend their crypto and fiat currencies using a dedicated Visa card and mobile app. The service has been rolled out in 130 countries, with the card accepted at over 46 million locations. Speaking to Cointelegraph on April 14, Wirex CEO Pavel Matveev said that more and more mainstream users “who are not typically hardcore cryptocurrency users” were …

A cryptocurrency swap platform has the champagne on ice as it celebrates its fifth anniversary — and is reflecting on some of its biggest achievements since launching back in April 2015. Changelly is planning to mark the milestone with a campaign to celebrate how far it has come over the past five years, hosting special promotions with its partners, including Blockchain Cuties, Enjin, NEXO, Bitdegree and Trezor. Customers past and present are being encouraged to get involved. The company began life as a small startup consisting of five people and initially supported 30 cryptocurrencies. Come January 2016, it already had …

The Fold app — a Lightning-compatible mobile app that offers users Bitcoin rewards (BTC) while shopping — has joined Visa’s Fintech Fast Track Program. Joining the program will enable the app to launch a new Visa co-branded card, which continues the offer of Bitcoin rewards for purchases made at retailers. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Fold’s CEO Will Reeves said that Visa would be providing the company with financial support and a dedicated team to bring the new Bitcoin cash-back rewards card to market. Earn, don’t spend, your Bitcoin As reported, the Fold app has so far been offering users the ability …