Visa Terminates Relationships With Card Issuer Wave Crest – Three Card Companies Suspend Cards

Announcements, News, Regulation | January 5, 2018 By:

Payments giant Visa has terminated its relationships with the Wave Crest card issuer, resulting in several cryptocurreny debit card providers suspending service to their customers.

Bitcoin payments processor BitPay said that its European card issuer, Wave Crest Holdings, Ltd., was ordered by Visa to close all accounts. No warnings were given of the impending move. BitPay said it would refund any remaining balances, including card fees for those who purchased a card after Dec. 1.

“Yesterday our European BitPay Card issuer Wave Crest Holdings, Ltd. received direction from Visa® to immediately close all accounts of its prepaid Visa® debit card programs. The BitPay Card (non-US) is one of these programs, along with other cryptocurrency-related and standard prepaid Visa® debit cards. Unfortunately, Wave Crest was unable to provide us or cardholders with more time to prepare for this change.”

Cryptopay and Bitwala were the other affected card companies. Neither company has announced plans, although reports indicate they are looking for alternative card issuers.

The issue affects only European debit card holders. US customers are unaffected. Reports indicate Visa terminated Wave Crest because of an unspecific non-compliance issue.