Payment gateway Visa has further divided into crypto by joining hands with Fold offering a new co-branded card with spent rewards in Bitcoin.
Announced on Thursday, this became possible as Fold joined Visa’s Fintech Fast Track program. Under this program, Visa allows fintech companies to accelerate their integration with the payments giant.
According to Fold, it is the first crypto-related company to gain admission into the program.
“By joining Visa’s Fast Track program, exciting Fintechs like Fold gain unprecedented access to Visa experts, technology, and resources,” Terry Angelos, SVP and global head of fintech at Visa, said. “Fast Track lets us provide new resources that rapidly growing companies need to scale with efficiency.”
Though the San Francisco-based company is set to launch the new Visa cards in July, the name of the banking service provider is still unknown.
Replacing airline miles and cash rewards with Bitcoin
Compatible with the Lightning network, Fold offers rewards in Bitcoin for purchases on a number of major retailers and service providers, including Amazon, Uber, and Starbucks. Its users need to synchronous their accounts either with their existing credit cards or Lightning networks to avail of the crypto rewards.
The mobile application currently offers its users to earn up to 20 percent of their spends in Bitcoin, however, rewards on the upcoming Visa card might limit this to 10 percent.
Fold’s CEO Will Reeves believes that Bitcoin is still not ready to be used as a currency due to its volatility, but he is determined that people want to receive it as rewards to be able to hold them.
Founded in 2014, Fold raised $3.3 million to date, according to Crunchbase, including a $2.5 million seed funding round last September.
Fold also allows its users to purchase USD denominated retail vouchers using the Bitcoin rewards.
Though crypto spends are still in the downside, many major companies, including Binance, Coinbase, and Crypto.com, issue crypto debit cards. However, Fold’s approach in the arena is completely different.
(Photo: picpedia)
