Cryptocurrency community hit by WaveCrest's Visa membership termination

Monday, January 8, 2018 10:59 AM UTC

WaveCrest, a digital payment solutions provider, last week announced that following an order from Visa Europe it has immediately suspended all cryptocurrency card services.

A number of cryptocurrency startups have been affected by this sudden turn of events. This includes Bitwala, Cryptopay, Wirex, and TenX, who took to Twitter to make the announcement:

Following an announcement from our card issuer on behalf of Visa Europe, Bitwala cards are taken out of operation starting today. Our team is holding an emergency meeting to resolve the issue with the card holders best interest in mind and will make an update shortly.
— Bitwala (@bitwala) January 5, 2018

#TenX advisory: Following an urgent communication from our card issuer WaveCrest, payments on the TenX card will be unavailable. We are working on a solution and will let you know further details as soon as we have them. We apologise for the inconvenience.
— TenX (@tenxwallet) January 5, 2018

Following an urgent communication from our card issuer WaveCrest, VISA card operations are no longer available. We have a new card issuer, with new cards available very soon. Customer funds will be transferred back from prepaid VISA accounts. (1/2)
— Wirex (@wirexapp) January 5, 2018

Unfortunately, our card issuer instructed us to cease all Cryptopay prepaid cards starting January 5th, 2018. All funds stored on cards are safe and will be returned to your Cryptopay accounts ASAP. Sorry for all the inconvenience caused, we’re working on the solution!
— Cryptopay (@cryptopay) January 5, 2018

Bitcoin payment processor BitPay also issued a statement:

“[O]ur European BitPay Card issuer Wave Crest Holdings, Ltd. received direction from Visa® to immediately close all accounts of its prepaid Visa® debit card programs. The BitPay Prepaid Visa® Debit Card (non-US) was one of these programs, along with other cryptocurrency-related and standard prepaid Visa® debit cards. Unfortunately, Wave Crest was unable to provide us or cardholders with more time to prepare for this change.”

Visa Europe said that WaveCrest's membership was terminated "due to noncompliance with our operating rules. All of WaveCrest's Visa card programmes will be closed as a result,” ETHNews reported. It, however, clarified that the move will not affect other cryptocurrency-related products.

“Visa has other approved card programmes that use fiat funds converted from cryptocurrency in a number of jurisdictions. The termination of WaveCrest's Visa membership does not affect these other products. Visa is committed to the security of its ecosystem and compliance with Visa's operating rules is critical for ensuring the safety and integrity of the Visa payment system. Our issuers' card programmes must comply with our membership regulations, as well as all applicable laws,” Visa Europe said (as quoted by ETHNews).