Binance’s Swipe-Powered Crypto Debit Card Debuts in Europe

Binance’s highly-anticipated cryptocurrency debit card, Binance Card, is officially debuting in countries of the European Economic Area, or EEA.

Binance told Cointelegraph on July 14 that EEA-based users will be able to apply for a Binance Card starting in August. While the United Kingdom will follow in the near future, users in other regions are invited to “register their interest” via the Binance Card website, the firm said.

As previously reported, Swipe is currently available in 31 countries within the EEA, including countries like France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, among others. Swipe is not yet available in the United States, but the firm is purportedly planning to release the service soon after completing appropriate licensing and registrations.

Four cryptos available at the launch

According to the announcement, Binance Card will support a total of four cryptocurrencies at the launch. Those cryptos include Bitcoin (BTC), Swipe’s native SXP token, as well as Binance’s native token BNB and stablecoin, Binance USD (BUSD).

According to the announcement, the Binance Card rollout will allow users to instantly convert the cryptos to fiat and spend them at over 60 million merchants across 200 regions and territories. 

Binance emphasized that the Binance Card will basically work like a traditional debit card and will not require users to manually convert crypto to fiat before making a purchase.

Binance Card users will be able to recharge their card wallet directly from their spot wallet on Binance as well as choose the order of preference to debit their BTC, BNB, SXP and BUSD assets. 

Swipe CEO Joselito Lizarondo explained, “For example, if I have 50 euros in BTC and 50 euros in BNB, if I made a transaction for 75 euros, it would be approved and then it would deduct my crypto in the order I selected.” 

The Swipe platform will enable users to store their cryptocurrency on their card wallet and only convert them to fiat currencies when a transaction is taking place.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said that Binance Card will greatly contribute to the adoption of crypto around the world:

“By providing a tangible way to transact, convert and spend crypto for everyday use, we are furthering our mission of making crypto more accessible to the masses. Giving users the ability to convert and spend their crypto directly with merchants around the world, will make the crypt experience more seamless and applicable.”

Last week, Zhao demonstrated the first Binance Card transactions, officially confirming that Binance Card will be powered by Swipe. Binance acquired Swipe just earlier this month, marking its second acquisition this year.