Payment card giant Visa is expanding its collaboration with Wirex towards the adoption of Web 3 payments across the UK and the European Economic Area (EEA). By integrating Visa cards and reducing payment friction, this partnership promises reliable payment services through Visa's payment network.

Integration of Blockchain and TradFi

According to the official announcement, central to the partnership is the introduction of Wirex Pay, a modular Zero Knowledge (ZK) payment chain. Wirex Pay aims to simplify how users manage and spend cryptocurrencies and traditional currencies by providing a way to handle funds. This product reportedly enhances payments by enabling transactions between blockchain technology and traditional finance.

Speaking about the expanded collaboration, Sviatoslav Garal, the Global Head of Payments at Wirex, said: “Being among the few crypto-native companies licensed by Visa for card issuance, and notably the first principal member of Visa Network in Europe, emphasizes Wirex's pioneering role in the financial industry.”

“At a time when the financial world is boldly moving towards Web 3 and decentralization, the need for robust solutions for global funds movement remains essential. Key ecosystem players like Visa play a tremendous role in this shift.”

Visa has promised to support Wirex's expansion in existing markets by utilizing Visa's assets and capabilities. Wirex is a crypto-native company with Visa principal license capabilities for card issuance.

More Partnerships

Most recently, Wirex partnered with OpenPayd, an embedded finance and banking-as-a-service company, to facilitate financial services for customers across the UK and EEA. According to the duo, this collaboration will enhance easy, fast, and secure payment solutions.

The agreement enables OpenPayd to facilitate the issuance of named virtual IBANs to Wirex's users in more than 30 countries across the UK and EEA regions. These virtual IBANs allow users access to the Faster Payments network in the UK and the Single Euro Payments Area instant transactions for Euro-denominated deposits and withdrawals.

Besides that, Wirex incorporated ZeroFox's monitoring tools early this year to combat threats from dark web activities and money mule accounts. This offering uses human and artificial intelligence to scan the dark web for potential dangers, such as leaked data and fake credentials.