Bitcoin Forum

Visa Cracks Down on Bitcoin Debit Cards in Europe, Providers Say

Visa, the payments giant, ordered cryptocurrency debit card providers to suspend their services on Friday, according to three of the affected companies.

Bitcoin payments processor BitPay announced in a statement that its European card issuer, Wave Crest Holdings, Ltd., had been told by Visa to close its bitcoin accounts. The company will refund any remaining balances, as well as card order fees for anyone who purchased a card after Dec. 1, 2017.

According to BitPay:

    "Yesterday our European BitPay Card issuer Wave Crest Holdings, Ltd. received direction from Visa® to immediately close all accounts of its prepaid Visa® debit card programs. The BitPay Card (non-US) is one of these programs, along with other cryptocurrency-related and standard prepaid Visa® debit cards. Unfortunately, Wave Crest was unable to provide us or cardholders with more time to prepare for this change."

Similarly, payment providers Cryptopay and Bitwala announced they would be ceasing their services and returning remaining funds.

Berlin-based Bitwala said on Twitter that its team was holding an emergency meeting to discuss the issue. However, London-based Cryptopay announced in a subsequent tweet that it had already begun negotiating with another card issuer.

Similarly, BitPay said in its statement that it was “already in discussions with potential alternative issuers.”

Notably, the shutdowns appear limited to European consumers. BitPay stated that U.S. customers would not experience any disruptions.

Less than a year ago, BitPay announced it was expanding to 131 countries at CoinDesk's Consensus 2017 conference. Its cards allow users to fill their balances with cryptocurrencies, but spend in euros, British pounds, or U.S. dollars.

Visa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


Source: https://www.coindesk.com/visa-cracks-bitcoin-debit-cards-europe-providers-say/

It's just a start from the looks. It makes no real sense to disconnect one part of the world, and leave the other in tact. If I was a regular Visa user, which I am gladly not, it would be reason for me to cut all ties with them. On the other hand, these Bitcoin related debit cards, while they do offer some convenience, are just a hoax in reality. People think they are actually spending Bitcoin, but in reality you're just having a third party convert your coins to fiat, and with these funds you get to pay for whatever goods or services. I seriously hope that with the right incentive and lightning network, people will start to conduct payments with it to show that we don't need centralized corporations....

Well said

And what's worse, companies like Xapo and Bitpay that provided those services were actively supporting SegWit2x which would have set Bitcoin on the road to centralization, and now they are backing Bcash, which is another attack on Bitcoin that wants to turn it into a very Visa-like payment system with centralized servers. There are still many problems outside of scaling that will not let Bitcoin become a widely accepted currency, like volatility and undetermined legal status, so even with LN it will still take years to see significant adoption, but when it will happen it will truly disrupt banks.

I must say I never liked nor banks nor visa much, and I definitely dont like bcash much either. But I do love bitcoin.

I am happy as long as we can outrule centralized entities completely. If it takes years to reach a serious level of adoption, then we just have to keep waiting patiently. At some point financial institutions will understand that their way of doing business will result in their own downfall. The only thing we need to transact is an internet connection and our coins, from where nothing else matters anymore. In order to make a difference I too will start to spend coins on whatever daily needs when lightning network is active. I will just make sure that after each purchase in Bitcoin, I use fiat to buy an equal amount of Bitcoin back so I don't miss out on further increases.

I wouldn't go as far as calling them a hoax, but you're absolutely correct in the sense of real merchant adoption. Which is why I think the public are often misled when a service comes up and says "now you can use crypto at over 4 million locations worldwide" or something similar. A lot of other alts are also guilty of this tagline. All these third-party processors or intermediaries are useful, no doubt, but it's really no different from exchanging your Bitcoin to fiat - only these debit cards provided a more convenient way to do it.

This news is just as bad as that of Steam dropping Bitcoin - in that no merchant is actually dropping Bitcoin, they simply are dropping the intermediary.

As much as LN is criticised, it could very well be the answer to merchants looking to adopt Bitcoin but who want quicker, cheaper settlement.

Realistically, LN is the only thing that can make Bitcoin appealing as actual currency again, which is something that we really need right now. Bitcoin's utility is very important, and due to the fees, the utility gets limited significantly. We have been talking about Bitcoin doing this and that and eventually will function as solid alternative against fiat, but this is only slipping away further. LN is the answer to all current limitations of Bitcoin. Imagine how Bitcoin could boom in adoption basically instantly if people in third world countries will start using Bitcoin as their main way of settling transactions, instead of their on SMS based services, which are heavily centralized and corrupted. We need the mass, and Bitcoin should be able to serve the mass.

It was just a matter of time for me when this will happens,and in my opinion there are two possible reasons.First is that Visa does not want to have anything to do with cryptocurrency services like BitPay or Bitwala and in that way they just say "we do not support BTC.Second reason may be pressure from EU on Visa to do that(since it is affecting only European consumers) probably because panic fear of terrorist financing and the growing interest for BTC.It may be also some third reason behind this decision,but for those who like to convert BTC to fiat with this method this is certainly not a good news.

Well said indeed and as far as I know some of the legit services that provide these Bitcoin related debit cards usually point this out that they are simply buying and selling out bitcoins for fiat credit on the cards and i really hope the bitcoin network is improved to make bitcoin payments more relevant in the coming days.

I am actually surprised by this. I never thought a company giant, Visa in this case, is having a problem due to the issuance of Bitcoin debit cards. I am thinking maybe there is politics behind this because this is something you cannot expect to begin with. It might be that they have allowed the proliferation of Bitcoin debit cards but due to the volatility of Bitcoin's price, its financial goal did not completely materialize because of the sudden increase and decrease of Bitcoin's value. This is the tricky part because I am sure a number of people have adapted this payment method already. What a big mess this is in the financial institution!

The company Visa has announced that they have stopped the support of only a few companies because of the constant breach of contract. If not then there is always a chance to oblige a Visa to perform their duties in court. But I think that will not happen. Probably it was a violation. In any case, bitcoin needs to become a full-fledged currency or the bankers will destroy him.

This is quite worrying. Even I am holding a Bitcoin Debit Card (Visa), issued from Hong Kong. And right now, I have around $800 in that card. Is there any need to withdraw that amount immediately? Or should I keep the balance in the debit card account?

the visa has closed the use of a bitcoin debit card that allows users to make transactions, which resulted in three companies threatened to close and must refund the funds and card booking fees for anyone who bought the card after December 1, 2017 for violations committed by the company. . Though with the card will be the way for the currency criptocurrency into the currency that is needed by the community and of course this will have an impact on bitcoin.

always has the politicians involved, according to VISA says that Wavecrest "continued non-compliance with our operating rules" but at no time does it mention which is this rules was broken and Wavecrest also does not defend itself publicly which leads me to believe that This is a political problem and this is solved by secrecy.


this is the mystery, it seems that everything was very well planned to destabilize the world of cryptocurrency

If they decide to shut down your cards in your area as well they will probably just refund you the money. It deem it very unlikley that such a big comapany will walk away with a mere $800. But just to be sure you can always withdraw the money and if I were in your position that's the thing I would do.

If bitcoin is not a legal currency. How Bitpay can mediate and promote payment with bitcoin? Is it the same as advertising you can pay with gold or with share? My opinion is that bitcoin should be recognized as real currency. It is ridiculously that we must pay tax for payment instrument.