Binance to Suspend Visa Debit Card Services in EEA Starting in December

Binance, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, announced on Friday that it will cease its Visa debit card services across the European Economic Area (EEA) starting December 20, 2023. This decision is anticipated to affect around 1% of Binance’s global user base, including individuals in roughly 40 European countries such as Austria, the Netherlands, Cyprus, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Poland.

The Visa debit cards, provided by Contis Financial Services under Solaris Group, facilitated the conversion of cryptocurrency into local currencies for transactions across the EEA’s 27 EU nations, along with Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. Since their introduction in September 2020, there were intentions to expand these services to Russia and the United States.

The discontinuation also impacts the Ukrainian Refugee Crypto Cards program, which was designed for verified refugees. However, Binance reassures that European users’ main accounts will remain unaffected. Users can still conduct transactions through the Binance Pay app, although this will have a lesser acceptance rate compared to the Visa cards, which were supported by 60 million global merchants. Customers are permitted to order replacement cards until December 6, and cashback rewards will still be available.

This decision comes in light of various challenges faced by Binance. The company previously encountered a halt in euro transactions following Paysafe’s withdrawal and ongoing restrictions on new registrations for UK users due to the loss of a third-party service provider. Additionally, Binance.US suspended dollar deposits in June, warning of potential withdrawal limitations.

Despite these issues, some positive developments have emerged for US users. A new partnership with MoonPay enables them to purchase USDT on the platform, and a solution for dollar withdrawals via stablecoin conversion has been implemented.

Nonetheless, regulatory scrutiny has compelled Mastercard to terminate its partnership with Binance in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Bahrain as of September 2023. The company has also restricted card services in Latin America and the Middle East.