For anyone wanting to pay for their next pint at the pub using Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), things are looking promising.
A partnership between unlisted Australian start-up CryptoSpend and payment provider Visa Inc (NYSE: V) is set to make it all easier using standard point-of-sale terminals for the first time on the Visa network.
The revelation was unveiled in an interview published by Tuesday's The Australian Financial Review.
CryptoSpend gets first tick from Visa
There have been other debit and credit payment options for paying with Bitcoin before. However, this marks the first one for any of the major international card schemes in Australia.
So, who managed to convince a US$517 billion company to provide the offering in Aus? It was the duo of Andrew Grech and Richard Voice at CryptoSpend. The two met through their studies at the University of Technology Sydney around 3 years ago.
According to the interview, the global payment provider took a close look under the bonnet to be comfortable with customer privacy, security, and anti-money laundering obligations being met.
The start-up is already operating with the new payments platform (NPP). This enables CryptoSpend users to instantly move Bitcoin funds into Australian bank accounts. As a result, current customers can pay bills and other people through the app.
However, co-founder Andrew Grech noted the drive for a debit spending card:
We have a lot of demand for the card. If the market is green, someone could say it's time to spend some of my profits. On the other side of the fence, another person might say it's going to keep going up, I'll hold onto it. But we have seen more spending volume when the price is going up.
Making Bitcoin spending a reality
As well as partnering with Visa, CryptoSpend will be working alongside two other companies that will assist it in making the Bitcoin payment card possible.
Firstly, the cards themselves will be issued by Novatti Group Ltd (ASX: NOV). In addition, BitGo will be onboard as the custodian of cryptocurrency holdings. CryptoSpend is expected to launch the offering to users of its app in September.
While Bitcoin is the hallmark of the offering, the debit card will also make seamless payments possible with Ripple (CRYPTO: XRP), Bitcoin Cash (CRYPTO: BCH), and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH).
All of this is quite intriguing considering recent reports indicate 75% of Aussies think the Bitcoin bubble will burst.
