Crypto hardware wallet provider Safepal on Thursday announced a strategic investment in Swiss bank Fiat24 to open a banking gateway that allows users to pay expenses with digital assets and transfer funds to other compliant banks.
In a release, CoinDesk learned that the two companies have launched a cryptocurrency-focused Visa card and an in-app banking service that uses the dollar-pegged stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) as the default deposit currency. A user can exchange his coin holdings into USDC through Arbitrum. USDC is stored in USD, EUR, and CHF and can be used for transactions and expenses.
After completing the KYC and onboarding process with Fiat24 on the SafePal mobile wallet app, users can set up a personally owned, fully compliant bank account with no account creation or administration fees.
“While this appears to be an unusual move for a decentralized wallet suite, inaccessibility is a pressing issue plaguing crypto users and needs to be resolved for better onboarding and adoption.” said Veronica Wong, CEO and co-founder of Safepal. Message to CoinDesk.
“This removes the excessive oversight and restrictions of traditional banks, as accounts created through mobile wallets support transfers to accounts at other banks in their own name in a seamless and compliant manner. “It will be the first truly crypto-friendly banking experience for individual users, eliminating 'manners,'” Wong added.
After creating a bank account with the SafePal mobile wallet, your credentials are generated as an NFT on Arbitrum, an Ethereum-based network, and all related transactions are securely and transparently recorded on-chain.
Encrypted Visa cards are also linked to third-party payment platforms such as Paypal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Samsung Pay.
The Visa card will first be available in some parts of Europe and then rolled out to other parts of the continent. Meanwhile, the in-app banking gateway will be available outside the US and in all non-US sanctioned countries.
According to data from CoinGecko, SafePal’s SFP token has appreciated by 1.3% in the past 24 hours.
