Crypto.com Rolls Out Visa Card to 31 European Nations

[CryptoInvestor]

May 15, 2020

Crypto.com said Friday it has begun shipping its crypto-to-fiat card, the MCO Visa, across the European Union.

In total, 31 European countries, including the EU’s 27 member states, now have access to the card that lets users pay in crypto, it said in a blog post. The Hong Kong company received approval to bring the program to the European market in October.

Coinbase's own, similar card is available to 29 European nations, according to its FAQs.

MCO Visa was previously only available in the U.S. and Asia. Crypto.com also announced Thursday its U.S. cardholders could begin integrating with Apple and Google Pay.

The card works by exchanging users’ crypto for local fiat when the user loads crypto onto the card.

Crypto.com claimed in a blog post it already had “thousands of reservations” from EU consumers lined up for the MC Visa card and further claimed its user base was over two million.

See also: Visa Patent Filing Would Allow Central Banks to Mint Digital Fiat Currencies Using Blockchain

CEO Kris Marszalek said in the blog post the expansion to a potential market of half a billion people continues Crypto.com's plot for world domination.

"As our fiat support matures, our cards will be even better positioned to take over the world,” he said.

Exactly how many people have actually joined the revolution is unclear. A company spokesperson declined to share MCO Visa Card sign-up numbers with CoinDesk.

The launch comes days after Crypto.com announced that it had secured $360 million in total crypto insurance policies for its bitcoin vaults.

It also immediately follows news that Visa, the payments giant licensing Crypto.com’s card, may be designing a cryptocurrency-backed system of its own. A patent awarded to Visa Thursday envisions a system in which central banks convert physical fiat into their digital equivalent.

https://www.coindesk.com/crypto-mco-visa-card-european-union