Weld payment card offers new solution for debit crypto cards around the world

The debit card for cryptocurrencies is already a little different from ordinary cards linked to fiat currencies. They eliminate the need to look for profitable exchangers and reduce the unnecessarily complicated process of converting the crypto into fiat and vice versa.

Unlike Western Europe and the USA, such services remain low-demand in the CIS. Despite the leading place of Russia and Ukraine in world cryptocurrency adoption ratings, the cryptocurrency card market has to be opened here yet. The Weld service can become one of the leaders in that emerging market.

The cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com’s report in February 2021 indicates the global number of digital currency users exceeded the 100 mn mark. Although this figure was more than 15% higher than a month earlier, the cryptocurrency industry adoption never was easy.

The ordinary users’ perception is influenced by the negative image of the crypto as supposed means of illegal operations, routine operations difficulties, and generally, the much-sophisticated cryptocurrency wallets required certain training.

It’s enough to recall the MasterCard held a market share of 35% in Russia, and the number of issued cards exceeded 80 mn already in 2015. A solution that would allow us to fully implement the possibilities of cryptocurrencies and traditional electronic payment systems is long overdue. All currently existing solutions are half-hearted either are at the testing stage or offer limited functionality.

For example, launched in November 2020, the cryptocurrency service of the PayPal payment system is still available for United States residents only, and its weekly purchase limits were increased from $20,000 to $100,000 only in July 2021.

Big integration

The new upcoming service involves a deep integration of traditional finance and physical technology. Such cards should have some features in particular,

• no need to pop up the card, the funds leave the account at the moment when the user makes a purchase;
• avoiding huge blockchain transaction fees
• the exchange rate transparency. The user must control the exchange rate, while most of such services hide it, or include the exchange rate into the fee;
• the possibility of issuing not only by banks but also by various financial services, anonymous and therefore don’t require verification;
• linking to the MasterCard and VISA traditional payment systems, which will significantly expand the scope of the cards.

The most common debit cryptocurrency card services, in particular, Bitwala, Spectrcoin VISA, Shift card, E-Coin, BlackCatCard offer are rather convenient but limited by the significant fees, which will damp a major part of its potential customers.

The most important these cards, like their analogs from already mentioned PayPal as well as cards of key cryptocurrency exchanges (Binance, Coinbase, etc.) can’t be used by Russia, Ukraine, and other post-Soviet countries residents.

Former USSR

It is the post-Soviet countries, thanks to its potential customer base volume of the electronic banking ecosystem development are the promising market for cryptocurrency payment services. In the case of Russia, this is complemented by a leading role in the crypto mining industry. In June 2021, Huobi trading platform analysts in their new report noted Russia as one of the leaders in demand for digital assets.

In particular, since the beginning of 2021, the number of exchange accounts registered by residents of Russia has increased by 212%. At the same time, about 91% of Russian investors turned out to be long-term cryptocurrency holders.

Unfortunately, despite the widespread popularity of cryptocurrency in the post-Soviet space, the residents of these countries were cut off from a simple and reliable payment cryptocurrency service. The largest market player, Binance Pay, avoids expanding in this region due to the difficulties of negotiations with local banks and the long-term fintech solutions integration.

Russia, Ukraine, and Estonia are the leaders in terms of the number of users and their involvement. That is why in these regions, where it has local experience, communication with banks, and a ‘blue ocean’ for fair competition, Weld will launch its pilot project of a cryptocurrency card.

Solution

Weld is a cryptocurrency card allowing easy connection of crypto wallets and to pay for any daily expenses by using the usual contact of the card and the POS terminal. Visa or Mastercard cards are connected via the API to the crypto wallet through the Weld app. During the payment in any sales point, the bank will debit $50, the same amount in US dollars will be transferred from the client’s wallet on the crypto exchange to our one on the same exchange.

Such architecture allows Weld to avoid high blockchain transaction fees and solve key user problems without

• pre-adding and freezing funds on the card;
• high fees, which at the BTC bull market high in May 2021 reached 7.5%.

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