The startup partnered with an unnamed intermediary to issue the card, which offers a way for users to “spend the value of their crypto without actually spending it,” said the company partner Antoni Trenchev.
Nexo collateralises users’ crypto and supplies them with a fiat loan, unlike other crypto credit cards that convert cryptocurrencies to fiat for every transaction. Since its founding, the startup has extended more than USD 700 million in crypto-collateralised loans to over 200,000 clients, according to CoinDesk. Now, the loans can be used to make purchases at merchants that accept Mastercard, through a co-branding.
The cards are available independent of a client’s credit history, as the staked collateral reduces default risk. The company claims the card’s issuer is licensed within the European Economic Area. Through additional partnerships with intermediaries, Nexo aims to expand to the US and Asia by the end of 2019.
The company complies with KYC customer protocol, follows international sanctions, and has integrated with blockchain investigators Chainalysis to check if collateralised crypto has been ill-gotten, it says.
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