Chinese financial services firm, UnionPay, also known as the Chinese version of Visa and Mastercard, has signed an agreement with Korean payment service provider Danal to launch a new digital card that offers cryptocurrency as a payment option.
According to the partnership details, the virtual card will be available by the end of 2020 and will be accessible via Paycoin, Danal’s virtual asset portfolio. The partnership will allow Paycoin users to use their cryptocurrency at more than 30 million UnionPay merchants around the world.
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Danal explained in a statement Tuesday that Paycoin users will now be able to use their cryptocurrency in mainland China as well. The new virtual card will support fiat money and Paycoin for top-ups and payments.
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Paycoin has more than 760,000 registered users and is currently listed on several cryptocurrency exchanges including Upbit, Liquid, Coinone, Huobi Korea, and Gdac, according to details mentioned on its official website.
Danal launched Paycoin in 2019 to reduce the time for cross-border transactions with lower fees through a blockchain-based virtual asset, the company explained in a blog post.
In a statement released to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), Park Sang-Man, CEO of Danal, said, “The prepaid card service will eliminate the hassle of exchanging when people travel overseas and ease their concerns about credit card theft. Danal is about to make its service globally accessible. “
Challenging Chinese market
News of the UnionPay deal appeared despite China’s tough stance on cryptocurrencies. In recent years, China has launched a crackdown on cryptocurrencies, including a ban on initial coin offerings (ICOs) and cryptocurrency activities. The partnership agreement will provide the opportunity for other international players to explore different options within the Chinese crypto market. Despite all the challenges facing decentralized cryptocurrencies, China is pushing towards digitizing the economy through a central bank-backed digital yuan.
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