“Coinbase Cards” Will now Be Available in Six Additional European Countries

For cryptocurrency exchanges, it is vital to be able to expand their services and put more products and offerings in the highest number of markets possible. Coinbase, one of the top trading platforms in the planet, is by no means an exception to the rule.

The famous company has already expanded one of its brand-new offerings, the Visa debit card service, to six European locations.  The payment instrument will let investors and users spend their digital assets, according to a report from news network CNBC in recent hours.

The Six Nations

The news release explains that the six European countries that will have the service available will be Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, and the Netherlands now. The offering goes by the name of Coinbase Card and is associated with the prominent payment processor firm.

Among the cryptocurrencies that will be available for spending via the Coinbase Card are bitcoin, litecoin, and ethereum. As for the places and platform in which the card can be used, there are online stores and physical businesses that take Visa as a payment method.

Coinbase has been working on the crypto Visa debit card from April, but the services were available for users in the United Kingdom at the time. Now, it has moved to six major European markets, with the potential of reaching new horizons in the not so distant future. “We will be looking at all of our key markets including the U.S.,” were the words of Zeeshan Feroz, who is currently Coinbase UK’s CEO.

An “Extremely Strong Take-Up”

Feroz said to CNBC that the project has experienced an “extremely strong take-up” and that the company “blew past” the 1,000 cards issued to the clientele at no cost, although the exact number of people that has signed up for the service has not been disclosed at the time of writing this article.

The Coinbase Cards, an amazing concept that combines the best of cryptocurrencies and the comfort of paying for goods and products in a physical establishment, are linked to a mobile application in Android and iOS devices: the card syncs directly with Coinbase accounts. The users are able to pick the crypto asset they will use to fund each spending.

However, as per the product’s modus operandi, the client will not be paying for goods with crypto assets, at least not directly. Coinbase will charge a small fee to help the person convert the crypto to fiat currency as needed.

Uses and Applications

To bring the technology to the physical platform, Coinbase partners with British payment processor PaySafe, which is the company tasked with issuing the cards and making them available to users in the specified locations.

“You can buy groceries on bitcoin and then coffee on litecoin right after,” Feroz stated whilst talking about the applications and uses of the card. Impressively, the cards can also be used to withdraw cash from ATMs.

The initiative is part of a renewed attempt from exchanges, start-ups, banks, tech firms, and financial services providers to make payments in cryptocurrencies more accessible for people.

By Andres Chavez