Edgars Lasmanis, Walletto founder, has established a world-class payment processing platform and electronic money institution. This article will look at the advent of the cypto card, which has largely been facilitated by an acceleration in the financial technology industry in recent years.
Today, cryptocurrency is synonymous with confidentiality and financial freedom. However, when it comes to using crypto on a daily basis and making payments, many holders lack the services and tools necessary to pay bills with their digital assets. In the cryptocurrency market, there are plenty of physical cards capable of being topped up by cryptocurrencies. However, only very few preserve the key advantage of crypto: full control by the owner.
Today, virtually everyone is familiar with debit and credit cards. However, looking back, the story of bank cards began relatively recently. The first credit cards came onto the market in the mid-20th century, enabling holders to settle their bills without the need to carry cash or a chequebook.
Although Visa and Mastercard dominate the global credit card industry today, the first credit card to come into existence was actually Diners Club, which was issued in 1950. As the name suggests, Diners Club was originally intended as a mode of payment for use in restaurants and hotels, enabling cardholders to settle their bill conveniently and quickly.
The Bank of America picked up on the idea a few years later, issuing the BankAmericard, the world’s first consumer credit card. The tool quickly caught on and, 18 years later, it was rebranded as Visa. The market leader today, Vias supports more than 17,000 financial organisations and more than three billion cards globally.
It took hundreds of years for the credit card to evolve. Thanks to the pace of current technical development in cryptocurrency circles, it has taken just a few years following the invention of Bitcoin, the world’s first cryptocurrency, for the crypto card to emerge. Like bank cards, the first physical crypto card, BitPay, emerged in the United States.
In 2016, the BitPay debit card was launched charged up with Bitcoins, enabling holders to withdraw fiat at ATMs or pay at POS-terminals following instant conversion at the current market exchange rate.
About Walletto
Walletto is proud to provide a comprehensive range of financial products and services catering to its customers’ every need, from reloadable virtual and plastic payment cards to White Label card issuing. Walletto’s security first approach incorporates 3D secure, providing an extra layer of protection when making payments online.
