- The non-profit organisation associated with the Avalanche blockchain, the Avalanche Foundation, has announced the launch of a new Visa crypto credit card called the Avalanche Card.
- The card, which will be available in both physical and virtual form, will allow users to spend USDC, Wrapped AVAX, Liquid Staked AVAX and other cryptocurrencies.
- The card isn’t associated with a bank and therefore isn’t insured by the US government’s deposit insurance scheme.
The Avalanche Foundation, the non-profit organisation charged with supporting the development of the Avalanche blockchain, has partnered with financial technology company, Rain Liquidity, to launch a crypto-enabled Visa credit card.
The foundation announced the new ‘Avalanche Card’ via X / Twitter on October 21, saying the card will allow holders to pay for products and services using a number of cryptocurrencies, including USD Coin (USDC), Wrapped AVAX (wAVAX), Liquid Staked AVAX (sAVAX) and others.
The card will be available in both physical and virtual form and will be able to be used wherever Visa is accepted. It will initially launch to residents in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Related: Chainlink and Avalanche Use AI, Oracles to Integrate Market Data Onchain in Collaboration with Swift and Euroclear
Use Of Card Not Reported to Credit Bureaus
According to the Avalanche Card’s waitlist website, the new card allows you to “make purchases against the value of your crypto assets anywhere Visa is accepted.”
The website also explains that when you sign up for the card you’ll also get “a new self-custody wallet and unique address per asset.” Another noteworthy claim made on the website is that the card won’t be reported to credit trackers:
The Avalanche Card is a Credit Card. Your activity is not reported to the credit bureaus.
Avalanche Card waitlist website
The website is also littered with disclaimers, many of which have the recurring theme that neither Avalanche or Rain Liquidity are banks. The FAQ section clarifies why this matters, explaining that “Avalanche Card is not a bank and is not FDIC insured.” So, in the case that something goes wrong and you lose money / assets from your Avalanche Card the government won’t be stepping in to help out, as they would do if a bank was involved.
The website also specifies there are no fees when spending assets, and states a full list of fees are available in the card’s terms—yet at the time of writing, the card’s terms were not available on the website.
Avalanche Card Initially Targets Latin America, Caribbean
Initially, only residents of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean will have access to the Avalanche Card.
Interestingly, the website also notes that residents or citizens of “Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Russia, North Korea, Syria, Iran, along with the regions of Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk,” aren’t eligible to sign up for the card regardless of where in the world they reside.
Related: Australia Bans Credit Card and Cryptocurrency Use in Online Betting to Curb Financial Risk
Back home in Australia, the federal government has crypto credit cards in their crosshairs. In June of this year the government cracked down on crypto-linked credit cards, taking steps to ban their use in online betting in an effort to reduce the harm of gambling addiction. The ban is expected to come into effect by the end of the year. Curiously though, crypto cards will still be able to be used in online lotteries.
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