Avalanche launches a new Visa Card to facilitate payment services in crypto

Smart contracting platform Avalanche has unveiled a crypto-powered Visa Card for crypto users. The card will exist in both physical and virtual versions to allow cardholders to spend their crypto both online and offline when paying for goods and services.

Avalanche is bridging traditional finance and decentralized finance (DeFi) with a new crypto-powered payment system. The smart contracting platform has unveiled a crypto-powered Visa Card that will allow cardholders to spend their digital assets directly from their wallets without the need to convert the assets into fiat currencies. 

The card will allow owners to complete payments using digital assets such as Circle’s stablecoin USDC, WAVAX, and SAVAX in any location or jurisdiction accepting Visa. 

FineTech company Rain Liquidity to offer Avalanche Card

The Avalanche Card is here. Crypto-friendly spending, anywhere Visa is accepted.

Waitlist sign up, terms & conditions, and all card details ⬇️ https://t.co/JGMmu5p2l9 pic.twitter.com/mHvrNjsvoc

— Avalanche9000 🔺 (@avax) October 21, 2024

Avalanche Card’s official website indicates that the Visa Card will be offered by a financial technology company called Rain Liquidity. The card will debut both online and physical versions, bringing flexibility to crypto payment services for online and offline transactions. The assets in the card are not legal tender and will, therefore, be subject to price fluctuations.

Interested parties must apply for the card by signing up and joining the waitlist through the Avalanche Card website. The provider will issue a new self-custody wallet linked to the card with a unique address per asset connected to the wallet for each applicant. Thereafter, the users can deposit funds in the wallet through the address and spend the assets at their convenience to buy goods or pay for services. 

The card will allow users to make transactions against the value of the assets in their issued self-custody wallets in any location where Visa is accepted. Visa is accepted in more than 200 countries, and millions of merchants worldwide use it. 

Avalanche advised users to consult tax professionals when transactions are unstable digital assets as they may be required to liquidate the assets, which is a taxable event in some jurisdictions.

Avalanche Visa Card is not insured by FDIC

The card has additional features to ensure the cardholders remain in control of their assets and spending habits. For instance, Avalanche has added an alert feature to notify the cardholders when the card is involved in any transactions. Additionally, the owner may freeze any transactions emanating from the card when the Visa card gets lost or change their access pin at any time. The cardholders will also enjoy 24/7 support if they experience any challenges or limitations while using the card.

Notably, the Avalanche Card is not offered by any banking institution. Therefore, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has not insured the Visa Credit Card like other credit cards from banks. The transaction activity on the card will not be submitted to credit bureaus and, therefore, won’t affect the credit scores of cardholders’.

The card is available to citizens in Latin American countries and the Caribbean. However, citizens of countries such as Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Russia, North Korea, Syria, Iran, or regions like Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk will not gain access to the card no matter where they reside at the time of application. Avalanche’s AVAX is currently trading at $27.60 and is down 4.18% in the last seven days.