Visa-based Coinbase card is expanding to more countries in the UK

Coinbase, one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States, recently put out a debit card service in the United Kingdom. Dubbed the Coinbase Card, users holding it can buy anything, anywhere, just like a traditional debit card. As long as it accepts Visa, that is.

Now, that service is expanding to six new countries within the region:

• Spain
• Netherlands
• Ireland
• Italy
• France
• Germany

Debit card to crypto card

This news comes to us via CNBC, who reports that the Visa card will be supported in these new countries as of Wednesday, June 12.

Coinbase Card ensures users can pick the currency they want to spend with. Current options include Litecoin, Bitcoin, and Ethereum, assuming the investor participates in online trading regarding these assets and has them in their cryptocurrency wallet.

Since the program’s launch in April, Coinbase has seen an “extremely strong take-up” according to Zeeshan Feroz, CEO of Coinbase U.K. This is on top of the 1,000 cards offered for free at launch. Otherwise, you have to spend around £4.95 or $6.50 to get the card.

However, users of this card should know that Coinbase charges a small fee to convert these cryptocurrencies to fiat in order to pay retailers. They aren’t accepting crypto directly just yet, unfortunately.

All you need to do is access the mobile Coinbase application to choose which crypto to spend with. From there, it’s a simple swipe to spend. Just note that there is a 2.49% transaction fee on each payment.

Coinbase Card is thanks to a partnership between Coinbase and PaySafe, a payment processor in the United Kingdom. Another company, Apto Payments, is working on an application separate from the Coinbase one to control this card. This is the same business that worked with Coinbase on a United States-based card which is no longer accessible, unfortunately.