Binance will suspend its crypto debit card services in Latin America and the Middle East beginning on August 25, it claims this would only impact 1% of users in the affected regions.
The crypto debit card functioned similarly to other debit cards, allowing users to purchase everyday products and services. The only distinction is that these cards were purchased with cryptocurrency.
The crypto debit card services in Latin America and the Middle East will be discontinued on September 21, but the exchange will continue to process refunds and disputes until December 20, 2023.
When a user of X (formerly Twitter) inquired about problems with crypto debit cards in Colombia, the issue came to light. Binance responded to the inquiry with a statement indicating that debit card services will be suspended beginning August 25 without elaborating on the reasoning behind the decision.
In April 2020, Binance announced its intention to enter the global payment market by issuing crypto-backed debit cards. By July 2020, the crypto debit cards were being shipped to Europe and several other countries worldwide. Later, the cryptocurrency exchange partnered with payment processor Swipe to offer crypto debit cards in the United States.
However, Binance reported that “only a small fraction of our users (less than 1% of users in the affected markets) are affected by this.”
While Binance claimed that only 1% of these users would be affected by the decision, it was discovered that some of the Binance CEO’s tweets regarding the crypto debit card-related announcement and responses on X had been deleted.
