Wirex, a London-headquartered company providing personal banking and financial services to bitcoin users, has announced plans to support Dash, enabling customers to pay with the cryptocurrency online and in-store.
The integration means that Wirex plastic and virtual card holders will be able to fund their accounts with Dash, link their Dash wallet, and use the payment card just like a standard Visa debit card.
Upon any purchase, Wirex customers will have the payment amount automatically converted from the national denomination to Dash, and then withdrawn from their digital currency holdings.
The new partnership also gives Wirex customers the ability to withdraw cash at any ATM, using their Dash, in hundreds of countries across the world.
Wirex, which provides a cloud-based hybrid personal banking platform that offers bitcoin debit cards, remittances and mobile banking services, is backed by Japan’s SBI Holdings. The company claims to serve over 800,000 customers in 130 countries and has notched up US$1 billion USD in customer transaction.
Wirex has offices in London, Tokyo and Kiev. The company said it will soon offer contactless bitcoin payments, contactless cards, additional currencies and new bitcoin-based financial products in the near future. It is currently seeking an e-money license in the UK.
“Wirex is thrilled to be the largest provider of Dash payments cards in the world. Our integration with Dash signals an important milestone in the history of cryptocurrency mass adoption,” said Pavel Matveev, CEO of Wirex.
“Wirex customers will be the first to spend Dash up and down the high street, or online, as simply as spending any national currency. Dash’s low transaction costs and fast transfer times means customers now have significantly greater flexibility and opportunity to spend cryptocurrencies around the world.”
Dash is the world’s sixth largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of over US$2.76 billion. Dash is currently trading at US$298, up 2,609% since the beginning of the year.
The cryptocurrency has surged in value in anticipation of the upcoming Evolution release, a major update that promises to improve usability and accessibility.
Dash, formerly Darkcoin and XCoin, was introduced in 2014 with a focus on privacy and instant transactions.
Commenting on the new partnership, Ryan Taylor, CEO of Dash Core, said:
“Consumers simply don’t like waiting for transactions to top up debit card balances, and I know that once Wirex consumers try Dash they will recognize the time-saving user experience our network provides at a fraction of the fees to which they are accustomed. It really is a win for consumers, Wirex, and Dash.”
Taylor said there’s been a great deal of demand in the market for Dash, especially this year.
“It is largely because our InstantSend feature ensures transactions are confirmed and settled in seconds,” he said. “Customers can send and receive tokens instantaneously, negating issues of any price swings, and merchants enjoy less fees, and no wait times.”