Bybit is 8th out of top-10 crypto exchanges according to CoinMarketCap. They recently announced a partnership with Mastercard to launch a Bybit Card, a debit card powered by the Mastercard network and issued by Moorwand (London-based payments solutions provider).

The card will allow users to pay for goods and services using their crypto assets and to withdraw fiat via ATMs. Initially five currencies will be available, i.e. BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC, and XRP. The company promises that the card will be available for clients in authorized countries in Europe and the UK, so coins will be converted to EUR or GBP respectively.

Bybit has already launched its free virtual card which allows online purchases. A physical card is planned to be launched in April, according to an announcement (although the timeline on the official website says March).

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In case you missed it: just a few days earlier Bybit announced the suspension of USD deposits via bank transfer. “We have temporarily suspended USD deposits via Wire Transfer (including SWIFT) due to service outages from our end-point processing partner until further notice. Withdrawals via Wire Transfer will also be suspended on Mar 10,”– said Bybit in the announcement. This all might be connected with the recent troubles of Silvergate, a crucial banking partner for crypto firms. Read more about it in our forthcoming article.

This is not the first time Mastercard has shown interest in the crypto industry. For example, earlier we wrote about Mastercard’s partnership with Paxos and its Web3 musicians accelerator in partnership with Polygon. Christian Rau, Senior Vice President, Fintech and Crypto, Mastercard Europe, said the following about partnership with Bybit: “with launches like this, we’re excited to continue to innovate in payments by making digital assets more accessible across the ecosystem.”

Its main competitor, Visa, has also been trying to keep up with the latest trends: last year ZELА issued a Visa debit card with crypto assets and now the company is continuing with development of blockchain-based solutions.

At the same time, Reuters reported this February that “both Visa and Mastercard have decided to push back the launch of certain products and services related to crypto until market conditions and the regulatory environment improve.” Taking this information into account and the current market conditions, we presume that Bybit physical card launch might eventually take a bit longer than expected despite the fact that this could be of great use for the exchange’s customers.

Would you personally use a debit card connected to your crypto wallet if you had such an option? Or do you feel that crypto assets must be separated from the fiat world?

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P.S.: in case you have tried the virtual Bybit card out, please, share your experience with us.
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