Wirex, a digital payment platform that enables users to spend 62 fiat and cryptocurrencies at more than 61 million locations worldwide via the Wirex platform, announced the integration of Avalanche (AVAX) into its ecosystem on Monday. With the move, users can receive, send, store, and exchange AVAX tokens, and add custom tokens via the Avalanche blockchain. The company plans to onboard multiple AVAX based tokens over the next few months. In addition, Wirex users will be able to earn 20% in annual interest on AVAX through the firm's decentralized finance savings product, X-Accounts. The company has over 4.5 million users …

London-based cryptocurrency and fintech firm Wirex has announced that it will no longer take on new U.K.-based customers following discussions with the jurisdictional regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority. The decision to temporarily halt U.K. sign-ups was apparently voluntary, according to a press release posted by Wirex on March 24, however, it did follow hot on the heels of “constructive dialogue” with the FCA. From March 25 onwards, U.K. residents will no longer be allowed to sign up for Wirex’s services. Moving forward, Wirex will dedicate attention and resources to strengthening its 5AMLD (Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive) compliance protocols in line …

Older generations have started recognizing the potential of cryptocurrencies and blockchain in global payment systems, a new survey says. On Jan. 21, digital payment platform Wirex released a special report devoted to the topic of cryptocurrency adoption in 2021. Compiled in partnership with the Stellar Development Foundation, the report includes survey results from 3,834 people across 89 countries, aiming to understand the latest trends in the global adoption of blockchain-powered digital payments. The survey was conducted over the course of three weeks, with both Wirex and the SDF sending out emails asking for voluntary participation in a survey related to …

Russia’s new cryptocurrency-related law, “On Digital Financial Assets,” or DFA, seems to have had little impact on the local cryptocurrency industry so far. In its current form, the DFA law essentially provides legal status to digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC), but prohibits their use for payments in Russia. As the DFA law is poised to be officially adopted in less than four months, Cointelegraph talked to major crypto firms operating in Russia to get their take on how the new law can impact their business. Based on comments from executives at companies like Binance, Waves, Paxful, LocalBitcoins, and Wirex, companies …

Mastercard is reaching out to cryptocurrency firms and encouraging them to apply to become partners as part of its newly-expanded cryptocurrency card program. On July 20, Mastercard said it was simplifying access to its Accelerate program for crypto card issuers, allowing applicants to be onboarded as partners “in a matter of weeks.” Now enhanced for crypto card applicants, the Accelerate program gives partners support with their market entry, continued growth and international expansion. New crypto partners will be assisted in integrating Mastercard’s technology and will be in a position to benefit from the firm’s cybersecurity expertise and market research. While …

As a sector, plastic cryptocurrency cards have had a bumpy ride. While for some they are the perfect way to spend those hard-stacked sats, it has evidently been a struggle for crypto companies to provide such a service. Wracked by regulation, supplier issues and the volatility of digital assets, crypto debit cards have had a rough start. Nonetheless, crypto debit card use is growing and is considered an important development for the growth in the adoption of crypto around the world. So, in which countries are most of the crypto cards available? Wirex Wirex is a London-based crypto debit card …

On October 12, Finance Magnates reported that payment giants Mastercard and VISA will both soon group cryptocurrency and Initial Coin Offering (ICO) jurisdictions in a new “high risk” category. What are the consequences for those ‘high risk’ merchants? According to the publication’s undisclosed sources, the ban will be applied to brokers who operate “from unregulated or loosely regulated environments,” and therefore have no license that would show that proper due diligence has been applied to their business. The action reportedly deals with forex, binary, cryptos, and ICOs. More specifically, the alleged move seems to target non-EU countries “in the Balkans, …

Wirex is a 1.5-year old company that has weathered many challenges to get to where we are today: a hybrid personal finance platform combining cryptocurrency and fiat currencies with hundreds of thousands of users. Navigating yourself in uncharted territories is not easy. This is true for many things - from the literal, geographical sense, to the world of Bitcoin and blockchain startups. Some of our challenges are predictable, experienced by every other startup out there. Others are wholly unique to this industry. In this piece, we would like to talk about the problems and challenges we face as a Bitcoin …