Binance Visa debit card services will close down in the European Economic Area (EEA) on December 20, according to an announcement by the cryptocurrency exchange on Oct. 20. Binance accounts will be unaffected.
According to a Binance letter to customers posted online, the Binance card issuer, Finansinės paslaugos “Contis” — or Contis Financial Services — will stop issuing the card. Contis is a Lithuanian electronic money institution and currency exchange operator owned by German banking-as-a-service platform Solaris Group, which is active in 30 European countries.
The Binance Visa debit card converts crypto in users’ Binance accounts into local currencies, thus allowing them to use crypto to pay for purchases in stores and online. The EEA comprises all 27 European Union member states and Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
And here goes the #Binance Visa Debit Card!
First Paysafe providing EUR on/offboarding, now Contis providing the debit card, what's next? pic.twitter.com/e7EF7G7CVN
The Binance Visa debit card was introduced in the EEA in September 2020. At the time, there were plans to introduce Binance cards in Russia and potentially the United States as well. A Binance spokesperson told Cointelegraph in a statement:
The closure of the Binance Visa service is the latest in a string of setbacks for Binance. The end of Binance Visa card services was announced a day after the exchange restored euro deposits and withdrawals, which had been unavailable for a month after payments processor Paysafe dropped the exchange. Binance is still not onboarding new users in the United Kingdom due to the loss of a third-party service provider.
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