San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has become the first crypto company to become a principal member of Visa.

Membership is granted in accordance with to sourceofficially in December 2019, but it was not revealed to the public until yesterday through a blog published by the same platform.

Membership will allow Coinbase to cut down on the expensive brokerage when it comes to issuing its debit cards, which allows users to pay with cryptocurrency wherever Visa is accepted.

Notably, Prime membership also grants the ability to issue debit cards to other companies, although the cryptocurrency platform claims it does not plan to issue them to others anytime soon.

Visa confirmed, according to Forbes reports, that it granted Coinbase the main membership, but made it clear that the company itself does not accept cryptocurrencies.

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With the membership, Coinbase is set to issue a new version of the Coinbase Visa card, which was initially launched in April 2019 with financial services company Paysafe Group Holdings, which charges a fee for its services.

This new version may reduce the fees that the Coinbase card currently charges users as it reduces middlemen.

If the fee is reduced, existing cardholders will have to re-apply for a new card.

Zeeshan Firoz, CEO of Coinbase UK noted:

The state of Bitcoin users has always been considered illiquid

Because you have to sell it, you have to go through a process, withdraw the money, and then spend it.

He said the card’s goal is to change that:

What the card is trying to change is the mentality in which the crypto is hidden, takes up to two days to gain access, and can actually be spent in real time.

The Coinbase Visa card is not available to residents of the United States and will not be in the near future.

However, the card is available in 29 countries, including Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Sweden, Spain and the UK, allowing users to spend nine cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, BAT, Litecoin and more.

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Through membership, Coinbase can charge companies outside the crypto space for card payments as a new source of income, relying less on crypto-price fluctuations.

Zeeshan acknowledged that it was a possibility, but revealed that it is not currently part of the company’s plan because its “primary focus” is building its services.

Read also:

Coinbase Card Adds More Cryptocurrencies and Expands To 10 New Countries

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