Crypto Card Battle In Latam Heating Up With Bitso And Ripio
Cryptocurrency credit and debit card offerings are thriving in Latin America, with two exchanges in the region planning on introducing their crypto-enabled cards.
Based in Argentina, Ripio, and Mexican exchange Bitso both announced the launch of their cards, which will be introduced via a collaboration with Visa and MasterCard, respectively.
This is in response to the increase in the popularity of crypto in Latam.
Crypto cards
Traditional banking and the crypto market are becoming increasingly integrated, as a greater number of banking institutions have adopted crypto and are offering crypto-related services to retain customers.
Bitso and Ripio are two crypto exchanges based in Latin America that have announced the introduction of their crypto-enabled cards.
Customers will be able to use these cards for making purchases with the crypto assets they have on these crypto exchanges.
Ripio has entered into a partnership with Visa for launching a prepaid card that will be accepted internationally in order to eliminate the difficulties associated with credit analysis for those who want access to crypto.
The crypto exchange believes that this product would become a catalyst for encouraging the use of crypto to make everyday payments and purchases.
Ripio’s Visa-based card would provide users with 5% cash back on all purchases and it will be deposited in their accounts by October 31st.
Ripio’s Henrique Teixeira said that the exchange expects 250,000 customers to use this card by December and it has invested around $300,000 in this project.
Bitso’s solution
In terms of trading volume, Bitso is categorized as one of the biggest crypto exchanges in Latin America, and it also announced the launch of its crypto-enabled card later this year.
Daniel Vogel, the chief executive of Bitso, is confident that the crypto winter would be a short one, due to which they have decided to partner with MasterCard for launching this card.
This indicates that the company believes crypto assets have a strong future. A launch date was not provided by the company, but it added that the debit card already has a long waitlist.
Vogel stated that the purpose of the card was to assist its clients. The CEO said that they had seen a pattern amongst their users of converting their digital dollars into pesos.
Now, he said that they were looking forward to seeing a latent demand. The company intends to launch the card in Mexico first and it will also offer cashback rewards.
Latam users
These launches come at a time when a recent report from digital markets data provider Kaiko showed that crypto users in Latin America are more interested in the real-world applications of these currencies.
It said that as compared to trading, the users prefer to use cryptocurrencies in the real world and this has prompted exchanges to come up with products that can help them attract more customers.
Despite the downturn in the market, Latam has recorded a rise in interest in cryptocurrencies this year, and adoption continues to grow rapidly.
