Providers said that Visa suspended the operation of Bitcoin debit cards in Europe

   421

Bitcoin payment processor BitPay announced in its statement that its European card issuer WaveCrest Holdings, Ltd., was declared by Visa to close its accounts. The company will return any remaining balances, as well as a fee for registering cards for all those who purchased the card after December 1, 2017.

Likewise, Cryptopay and Bitwala payment providers said they would stop their services and return the remaining funds.

Bitwala, based in Berlin, said on Twitter that its team was holding an emergency meeting to discuss the problem. However, Cryptopay based in London announced in the next tweet that it had already started negotiations with another card issuer. Similarly, BitPay said in a statement that it "is already discussing with potential alternative issuers"

It is noteworthy that the closure is limited to European consumers. BitPay said that U.S. customers would not experience any glitches.

In a statement, a representative of Visa Europe said that WaveCrest lost its membership in the payment company "because of non-compliance with [its] rules of work." As a result, all Visa cards issued by the company were closed. Other issuers of Visa cards can continue to issue cards based on cryptocurrency.

Less than a year ago, BitPay announced the expansion to 131 countries at CoinDesk's Consensus 2017 conference. Its cards allow users to fill their balances with cryptocurrencies, but spend in euros, British pounds or U.S. dollars.