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Avalanche

Users can spend AVAX, in addition to 61 crypto and traditional currencies on Wirex once linked up to a crypto-enabled debit card.

Wirex, a digital payment platform that enables users to spend 62 fiat and cryptocurrencies at more than 61 million locations worldwide via the Wirex platform, announced the integration of Avalanche (AVAX) into its ecosystem on Monday. With the move, users can receive, send, store, and exchange AVAX tokens, and add custom tokens via the Avalanche blockchain. The company plans to onboard multiple AVAX based tokens over the next few months.

In addition, Wirex users will be able to earn 20% in annual interest on AVAX through the firm's decentralized finance savings product, X-Accounts. The company has over 4.5 million users in more than 120 countries across its app, wallet, and payment platforms.

Regarding the development, John Wu, president of Ava Labs, the creator of the AVAX blockchain, said "Wirex is moving fast to make digital assets and the innovation happening on public blockchains more accessible to the masses."

Meanwhile, Wirex CEO and co-founder Pavel Matveev said the addition of AVAX is "helping to develop use cases for the Wirex ecosystem," especially around improving blockchain accessibility.

Wirex claims to have developed the world's first crypto-enabled payment card in 2015. In January, the company expanded to the U.S. and onboarded the Polygon, BNB Chain, and Fantom blockchains at around the same time. Wirex also has its own native utility token, WXT, and a crypto reward program that gives cardholders up to 2% back in WXT for every transaction they make. The company has processed more than $5 billion worth of transactions since 2014.

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Wirex halts UK signups after consultation with financial regulator

March 24, 2021 Coin Telegraph

bitcoin regulation

Wirex has temporarily halted signing up new U.K. customers following what it called “constructive dialogue” with the Financial Conduct Authority.

London-based cryptocurrency and fintech firm Wirex has announced that it will no longer take on new U.K.-based customers following discussions with the jurisdictional regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority.

The decision to temporarily halt U.K. sign-ups was apparently voluntary, according to a press release posted by Wirex on March 24, however, it did follow hot on the heels of “constructive dialogue” with the FCA.

From March 25 onwards, U.K. residents will no longer be allowed to sign up for Wirex’s services. Moving forward, Wirex will dedicate attention and resources to strengthening its 5AMLD (Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive) compliance protocols in line with the latest guidelines laid down by the FCA, the firm announced.

The FCA announced its intention to ban all cryptocurrency derivatives trading in October 2020. By January the ban had gone into effect, and its impact was soon felt as cryptocurrency derivatices exchanges began to close down services for U.K. customers.

Wirex co-founder and CEO Pavel Mateev said the FCA had made suggestions on how the firm could update its operational procedures:

“The FCA have, in dialogue with us, made suggestions on how we can implement changes to our operational procedures, which we welcome and intend to follow [...] We fully endorse the Khalifa Fintech Review findings about growing the UK-based fintech ecosystem and see ourselves as an integral partner in achieving this.”

New U.K. residents who try to sign up will be added to a waiting list for the time being, the firm stated. Wirex claims to have 3.5 million registered users around the world, and offers access to over 150 different currencies, both crypto and fiat, through its app and Mastercard-powered debit card.

WireX