The payments giant Visa has launched its first crypto cards in the Latin America region – and will debut its new products in Brazil and Argentina via a number of new partner firms.
Per the media outlet Expansión, Visa has “announced an alliance” with various fintech companies and IT startups in Brazil and Argentina that will let “users make transactions” with Visa cards – and receive crypto cashbacks every time they spend.
In a statement, the company explained that the move “includes recently launched cryptocurrency card programs and partnerships” with fintech providers crypto exchange startups in the region.
The incentive follows hot on the heels of earlier, similar crypto-related activity in the region from Visa. Late last year, the company teamed up with the Argentinian crypto exchange Lemon Cash to launch a Visa card that offers customers a 2% bitcoin (BTC) cashback when they use the card to make payments.
Visa is also rolling out a Visa Lemon Cash prepaid card in Argentina. Its new partnership deals also include an issuance agreement with Satoshi Tango, another Argentinian crypto trading platform. Visa-branded Crypto.com cards are also set to roll out in the nation.
Meanwhile, in Brazil, similar offerings will roll out in conjunction with the crypto-specializing banking outfit Alterbank and the neobank Zro Bank.
The same media outlet claimed that this was evidence that Visa “wants to join the cryptocurrency craze” and was hoping to offer its partner companies “scalability” and “security” options.
Romina Seltzer, the Senior Vice President of Products and Innovation of Visa Latin America and the Caribbean, was quoted as stating:
“The cryptocurrency ecosystem continues to gain momentum in this region with increased investment, more consumer adoption, and more crypto-enabled usage cases. We will continue to build on our strategy to develop the future of crypto and payments for our customers, clients, partners, and consumers.”
The report added that Visa is looking to develop card issuance projects in other Latin American nations, including Mexico, Colombia, and Peru.
The Mexican unicorn Bitso, another crypto exchange, has also announced that it will issue its own card. Per its website, the card will also allow users to pay in Mexican pesos and receive BTC cashbacks.
The company may seek to go it alone, however, rather than seeking to partner with a major card issuer like Visa. The firm added that its card program would be open to all residents of Mexico who have Bitso accounts. However, it added that Bitso was also “working to make the new card available in Argentina.”
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