Exchange giant Binance is buying the remaining stake put up for sale by crypto wallet app Swipe, which allows users to purchase items via a Visa debit card.
Binance said in a statement it is moving towards full ownership of the London-based business, but without sharing the financial terms of the deal. Officially announcing the news on Thursday, the influential crypto hub said the acquisition would help bring crypto to the mainstream.
Following the completion of the purchase of the remaining stake, Swipe CEO Joselito Lizarondo will step down and leave Binance. The exchange had acquired the majority of Swipe’s outstanding shares back in July 2020.
“Binance and Swipe work with regulated and licensed entities to issue Visa cards, with Swipe acting as Binance’s card program manager and technology platform. Swipe also works with strategic partners to issue cards in permitted regions and markets,” Binance said.
Swipe is a multi-asset digital wallet and Visa debit card platform that allows users to pay with cryptocurrency in stores around the world. Its takeover came as Binance was expanding fiat gateways for users all around the world ahead of the launch of its branded debit card.
Making crypto more accessible to the masses required off-ramps as a key component since it enables users to convert and spend crypto directly, and have merchants still seamlessly accept fiat.
Part of this alliance, Swipe listed BNB on its platform, allowing customers to buy and sell the coin with their linked bank accounts, and making Binance’s native token spendable with fiat through Visa debit cards.
Swipe is already available in 31 countries, mostly in the European Union, and currently supports transactions in major fiat currencies. Even before becoming available in the United States, the firm supports payments in the dollar among other major fiat currencies. Once a user’s verification process is completed, Swipe introduces USD checking accounts for customers in the United States with transactions that can be initiated within a single click.
The Swipe acquisition is Binance’s second publicly-known milestone this week. The first was the in-principal decision made by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) to grant Binance its authorization to establish a crypto-asset business, paving the way for it to begin operations within the country.
Binance said that it would continue to work with the regulators as it strives to be granted a full crypto-asset provider license, and as it looks to operate on as a regulated provider in all territories, it currently has a presence in.
