Wirex prepaid Debit Cards
This week has some exciting cryptocurrency news for Americans. It seems that we keep getting more and more exciting news about practical ways to use cryptocurrency, and this week is no different. Wirex, the Smart Wallet company, said they would soon be releasing Wirex prepaid Debit cards in the United States. The Wirex twitter account described the importance of the cards in a tweet:
"For the first time, US-based Wirex users will be able to instantly buy and convert #XRP #BTC #LTC #ETH into USD – letting you spend your digital tokens seamlessly in everyday life."
In terms of being able to apply cryptocurrency to real-life, this is a giant step forward. By being able to fill the prepaid card with either BTC, XRP, LTC or ETH, Americans can then go and spend that in everyday life, having their coins instantly converted into US dollars. As of right now, Bitcoin, XRP, Litecoin, and XRP are the only coins they're accepting, and they have not released the launch date, but more news will come soon.
You can find the full post by Wirex here: https://wirexapp.com/wirex-launch-prepaid-cards-usa/
Coinbase supports an American stablecoin
Starting yesterday, October 23, Americans, outside of New York state, can buy and sell USD Coin Stablecoin (USDC).
What is a stablecoin?
Coinbase's blog-post had this to say about stablecoins :
"This is the first time Coinbase has supported a stablecoin, which is fundamentally different from other cryptocurrencies. Unlike bitcoin or ether, a USDC is meant to represent a single US dollar (USD) that does not move up or down relative to its reference currency. One USDC is a 1:1 representation of a US dollar on the Ethereum blockchain."
The full post can be found here
https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-and-circle-announce-the-launch-of-usdc-a-digital-dollar-2cd6548d237
Coinbase added that they believe the advantage of a stablecoin is that it is easier to store than traditional bank dollars, easier to program, quicker to send and use in dApps. As this is the first stablecoin Coinbase is adopting it will be interesting to see its reception.
This is some exciting news for American's and all around exciting for cryptocurrency as both, crypto-funded debit cards, and stablecoins are quite innovative, and can both help the crypto-market grow.
-Written by James Hepburn