Korea’s Danal partners China’s UnionPay to launch crypto-based digital card

China’s version of Visa and Mastercard UnionPay has concluded plans with Korea’s payment provider Danal cryptocurrency card.

Korea’s payment provider is a major player in the financial sector in the Korea Republic, with more than 80,000 online merchants and over 100,000 retail outlets.

The partnership allows Koreans to spend Paycoin internationally

Apart from this partnership, Danal also has other partnerships with other companies, including Samsung Pay.

But what is more interesting to the cryptocurrency community is the partnership with UnionPay, which will roll out a crypto-based payment card, despite the crypto ban in China.

The partnership will enable Korean users to make use of the card when they are traveling to mainland China, which is one of the main reasons for the partnership. It will reduce foreign exchange fees since it will allow Koreans to spend PayCoin directly from the card internationally.

The new card will use Danal’s issued cryptocurrency known as Paycoin (PCI), according to the partnership terms.

The solution uses the PayProtocol platform, which utilizes Hyperledger Fabric, the enterprise blockchain to provide its payments network. The firm said it’s also planning to offer different cryptocurrencies for payments in the future.

Card adoption will attract lower fees

One major benefit for PayCoin is the fact that its adoption by merchants will attract a far lower transaction fee. The merchant can even choose to pass on the lower fees to be enjoyed by customers as rewards.

Presently, about 60,000 Korean merchants are using the PayProtocol platform. These merchants also include top names like KFC, Dominos, CU, as well as 7-Eleven.

Already, there are over 750,000 people already registered for the app. But the turnover of crypto deals in the platform is still low, with some days with trading volumes as low as $500,000. With this partnership, observers believe the turnover may rise

Paycoin gaining global outreach

For a payment firm with more than 30 million affiliated stores, China’s UnionPay is bringing wider overseas outreach for Danal. Being the first Korean Payment platform to partner with UnionPay, Danal may experience better growth and expand its products and services to international clients.

The card is expected to be in use by the end of the year, according to the announcement about the deal.

PayCoin was rolled out last year and has 760 registered users, including names like Coinone, Liquid, Huobi Korea, Upbit, as well as Gdac.

With the partnership with UnionPay, PayCoin users are now able to pay for goods and services using the card at more than 30 million merchants in 179 countries. Observers say this will give PayCoin massive outreach.