Bitwala To Relaunch "As A Cryptobank" After Getting Current Debit Cards And Banking Partnerships Terminated
You probably remember "visagate", or the last week episode in which all crypto debit cards issued with WaveCrest Holdings had to be suspended without notice, due to WaveCrest's noncompliance with Visa rules. One of the companies hit by this storm was Bitwala.
In an email sent to their customers today, Bitwala revealed that not only the debit card partnership has been terminated, but also their bank account.
On December 29th our bank notified us that our account was being looked into and in the interim all transfers will be disabled. We disabled bank transfers from our dashboard and emailed users with pending transactions to expect delays.
After doing everything possible to restore our account, the bank informed us yesterday that due to a change in their policies, they have decided to terminate our relationship and that the closure would be permanent.
Although they took a pretty bad hit, in this said email they revealed plans to launch as a "crypto bank".
Bitwala will relaunch as a crypto bank. After working for over a year on our deal, we’ve finally reached an understanding with a German white-label banking partner. Our bill payment and card services will return for businesses and individuals and will both be migrated to the new platform and be able to open full bank accounts with us.
Alas, the relaunch seems to be tedious and time consuming, as the exact launch date under this new paradigm is yet to be known:
We are working very hard to relaunch in mid-2018.
Interestingly enough, their plans for having an ICO for this crypto bank, with an "equity token", are still on.
I take this whole story as a symptom of a deeper polarization between legacy banking systems and blockchain-based crypto to fiat bridges.
Hard to tell which one has more momentum now, but it's clear there's a gap growing on very fast between these two worlds.
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I wonder what would be stopping some country, like say Vanuatu, from opening up their own Crypto Bank and start accepting cryptocurrencies from its citizens, which you can become one with a BitCoin payment.
Right now I'd say competition. But enter governments outlawing crypto, and no more competition. Hey, a new Swiss bank only not Swiss.
Vanuatu apparently denies that they accept BitCoin for citizenship, but maybe they should have rethought that. Talk about an easy way for some small island country to be bigger than they are.
I like that observation. Hard to argue any invalidity to it. That may be what people are thinking about when they say crypto "won't end well".
I love cryptocurrency.Much obliged for sharing it.
Upvoted and resteemed done
Hoping it's a new way of crypto market....thanks for your update news!
Crypto and fiat are two opposing system...
Oppression and monopoly of a few in high power places, is the core idea behind fiat while crypto is the exact opposite...
Sooner or later the fiats are going to declare a full fledged war on cryptos...It will be a battle for survival....
Ripple is in the middle trying to be a negotiator between two parties, don't now how this will work in long term...
Bitwala plans to relaunch as a crypto bank is a welcome development. Now that they have decided to take its business destiny into their hands, and not depend on visa, that's really commendable.
that's pretty cool to know....
Finally some good news coming from the side of the cryptocurrency, thanks for keeping up to date..... thumbs up for you mate... @dragosroua
very good news...about cryptocurrency... i use and love crypyocurrency..msny many thnx for share cryptocurrency news
Wirex has been also hit, but managed to return money back to customers and promises to arrange a deal with another provider.