The biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Binance, is making its latest cutbacks by withdrawing its Visa debit card from the European market.
The European Economic Area card can be used by current holders until December 20, according to a blog post made by Binance on its support website on Friday. A Binance representative stated that this adjustment will affect only 1% of Binance’s users.
According to Binance’s website, cardholders can exchange and spend cryptocurrency at more than 60 million online and physical retailers worldwide. Users from European nations, such as France, Germany, and Spain, have had access to it.
During the previous cryptocurrency boom, cryptocurrency debit cards gained popularity. Various varieties were introduced by companies such as Binance, Coinbase, and Gemini. In September 2020, the Binance Visa Card was made available in Europe.
Due to increased attention from US regulators, Mastercard Inc. and Visa Inc. have been withdrawing their card connections with Binance. As of July, Visa and Binance were no longer issuing new co-branded cards in Europe. Visa did not respond to a request for comment right away.
In June, the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, for violating securities laws. It was also sued by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission earlier this year for circumventing regulations to provide American users access to the exchange. The business refuted the accusations.
Binance has become more and more cut off from the conventional banking system in recent months. In February, it was disconnected from the US banking system, and in May, it was unable to receive some Australian bank transfers. It closed Binance Connect, which let companies accept cryptocurrency payments with Visa and Mastercard, during the summer.
This week, Saulius Galatiltis, the CEO of Bifinity UAB, a payment processor that acts as a conduit for Binance users’ fiat transactions, announced his resignation. It was the most recent of several high-level exits from the organization within the previous three months.
