Bitfinex, one of the largest bitcoin exchanges in the world, today announced that it has partnered with Blade Payments to provide real-time debit cards to Bitfinex customers.By allowing use of the card without preloading currency, the Blade card can be used anytime, providing a frictionless user experience.Bitfinex is one of the world’s leading Bitcoin exchanges, and provides the most advanced trading platform in the digital currency space.
A leading source of price discovery, Bitfinex also underpins a large part of the bitcoin economy by enabling merchants, payment processors, individuals and traders access to the deepest pool of liquidity.Founded in 2012, Bitfinex is an established thought leader in the digital currency exchange space, and one of the most secure platforms to have been released.Most bitcoin debit cards require that the user first sell bitcoin, then load their card, in order to withdraw fiat currencies.This new paradigm means those who wish to hold bitcoin only convert the exact amount they wish to spend, without waiting for a sale to go through.
“We are very happy to be providing our users with access to their bitcoin at any time via Blade’s industry-leading debit cards” said Zane Tackett, Director of Community & Product Development at Bitfinex.“We see the ability to withdraw directly from one’s Bitfinex account using traditional ATMs around the world as a major benefit for our users.”Customers will be able to use Blade cards for purchases with online merchants, brick and mortar stores, as well as to withdraw cash at millions of ATMs around the world. Ed Boyle, CEO of Blade, stated “We are thrilled to be working with Bitfinex, one of the premier exchanges in the world.Blade’s Platform-as-a-Service (Paas) empowers digital currency spending worldwide via cards on existing global payment networks.The Blade model-driven solution handles onboarding, collateralization, risk management, authorization, settlement, and exception processing.Blade’s team of payment experts brings together over 65 years of collective experience in card payments, processing systems development and integration, program management, and regulatory compliance.The team has launched or integrated over 30 card programs worldwide with billions of dollars in annual transaction volume.Our business is built on simplifying and expediting the process of launching a bitcoin spending card and we are excited to partner with Bitfinex to provide their customers the most sophisticated card in the market.”Bitfinex believes that a card offering provides its customers a lower cost, more convenient alternative for spending bitcoin and making currency withdrawals.This card program enables customers to link their bitcoin holdings to the card and provide immediate availability of funds for purchases and cash withdrawals without having to first sell their bitcoin and prefund the card with currency.The card will be made available in the coming months to select group of customers in Europe and Asia, and it will be available for order directly through the Bitfinex website.
