EML Payments, the Australian fintech firm that bought Meath-based Prepaid Financial Services (PFS) in 2019, has joined with cryptocurrency exchange CoinJar to launch a debit card in the UK that will allow users to make purchases by instantly converting their cryptocurrencies into fiat currency.
CoinJar is the first exchange registered with the UK's Financial Conduct Authority to launch a pound sterling-native, cryptocurrency-to-fiat Mastercard card in what it described as a "defining moment for the UK's crypto space".
The CoinJar card will be available as a digital and physical card with Google Pay integration, and it will work with close to 50 cryptocurrencies, with no ongoing fees, and a 1% conversion rate that is returned to customers through an in-house rewards programme.
"CoinJar Card is the next step in our mission to make crypto both accessible and useful, to everyone, every day," said Asher Tan, CEO at CoinJar.
"With EML's technological expertise and Mastercard's universal acceptance, CoinJar Card gives CoinJar's customers true day-to-day crypto functionality, whether through smartphones, wearables, digital or eye-catching physical cards," noted Lorraine Buhagiar, UK managing director at EML, added.
In Association with
CoinJar, which is a sponsor of Premier League football club Brentford FC, has over 500,000 customers in the UK and Australia, and has exchanged billions of dollars into cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum for its users.
An EML Payments spokesperson clarified that cryptocurrency never goes near the card, only centralised, government-issued currency, and that the card works the same as any pound sterling Mastercard, so customers can choose to pay in sterling or the local currency when abroad.
Sales of cryptocurrency are also not possible on the card, and only once the crypto has been sold for the fiat currency can the proceeds be loaded onto the debit card.
Customers can access the proceeds of their trades instantly, and the sale proceeds are available to spend in fiat, wherever Mastercard is accepted.
In its interim annual report, published this week, EML Payments said it expects a Central Bank of Ireland investigation into PFS over anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism concerns and risk and control frameworks and governance to be finalised in mid-2022.
The company has set aside some AU$9.2m (€5.8m) in anticipation of costs relating to the investigation, and an additional AU$10.5m (€6.6m) to defend a potential class action being taken by shareholders in Australia who claimed they were mislead by EML over the PFS situation.
The Central Bank gave EML and PFS permission to sign new customers up and launch new programmes, with some restrictions, in November, three months after the regulator informed the company that it had not identified any instances of financial crime or safeguarding deficiencies.
Revenues at EML rose 20% year-on-year to AU$114.4m (€72.5m) during the first half of its financial year, ending on December 31, while underlying earnings fell 4% to AU$26.9m (€17.1m), with the group blaming Central Bank restrictions for the decline in profitability.
(Pic: Getty Images)
