From April 15, 2022, Ukrainians who moved to Europe due to the war can use Wirex App without restrictions and receive Wirex debit cards to pay for goods and services in cryptocurrencies and traditional money. Previously, this product functionality was available only to EU citizens. Wirex card registration for Ukrainians is free.
The product of the global licensed fintech company Wirex provides users with access to the exchange of digital currencies for traditional ones, cash withdrawals at ATMs without fees, and receiving bonuses in WXT cryptocurrency for each online and offline purchase. Ukrainians can download the application from the App Store or Google Play Store. To issue a Wirex payment card, a person needs to indicate their current European address and verify nationality by international passport or ID card.
"The war forced almost 5 million Ukrainians to move to the EU. Our strength is in unity, so the company decided to support people in its way. Ukrainians received access to Wirex financial products, which allow them to pay for goods and services in traditional money and cryptocurrencies, automatically converting them into US dollars, euros, or local currency. At the moment, only the cryptocurrency functionality of Wirex products is available to Ukrainians due to regulatory features. But recent changes in legislation give hope for new stages of development for the entire crypto and fintech sector of our country. We at Wirex hope that shortly the full functionality of the products, including the usage of traditional payments, will be available to our Ukrainians not only in Europe", – says CTO Wirex, head of Wirex R&D, Ruslan Kolodyazhnyi.
What does Wirex provide for Ukrainian users?
The update's primary goal is to give freedom of action to Ukrainians with a Wirex card and make the application's functionality similar to the one available on the territory of the EU countries.
The Ukrainian language version of the application has also been added to the Wirex App, and the developers emphasise that the language selection synchronises with the user interface language automatically.
Among the available updates are:
- Exchange – a service that allows exchanging any digital currency for fiat and vice versa without additional fees;
- X-tras – subscription type, which opens new levels of product capabilities with increased Cryptoback (cashback in cryptocurrency WXT);
- X-accounts – an option that allows creating deposits in cryptocurrency at 12% per annum in WXT (bonuses in the app are freely convertible into other currencies);
- Send Money To Contact – the ability to send and receive funds to contacts from the phone book at no extra cost;
- Crypto in/out transactions allows clients to send or receive cryptocurrencies on the account. Having the Bitcoin wallet's address (available by default), the user will be able to receive a transfer from other people. More than 40 different cryptocurrencies are available in the application. Information about new coins comes in pop-up messages;
- Wirex is a Principal Member of MasterCard, so Ukrainians in European countries can order Wirex payment cards.
- The developers have removed the fees for cash withdrawals at ATMs.
Previously, only the crypto-functionality of the product was available to users from Ukraine. It takes the purchase and exchange of crypto, replenishment of accounts from Ukrainian bank cards, and the creation of accumulative X-accounts.
The company strongly condemns the nefarious and insidious activities of the aggressor country of Russia in Ukraine. Wirex closed its operations in the Russian market the day after the full-scale invasion, February 25, 2022.
About Wirex:
Wirex is a worldwide digital payment platform and regulated institution that has forged new rules in the digital payments space. In 2015, the firm developed the world’s first contactless payment card that gives users the ability to seamlessly spend crypto and traditional currencies in real life.
Wirex was created in 2014 by CEOs and co-founders Pavel Mateev and Dmitry Lazarichev, who identified the need to open up the esoteric world of cryptocurrencies and make digital money accessible for everyone. With the core aim of making it as easy as possible to use digital assets in everyday life, Wirex provides a trusted and cost-effective service for crypto and traditional currency transactions by incorporating the next generation of payments infrastructure integrated with cryptocurrency blockchains.
Wirex is a Principal Member of Visa and Mastercard payment systems, which allows the company to issue payment cards independently. Currently, more than 4.5 million people use Wirex Visa and MasterCard in 130 countries. Wirex is growing rapidly: the company successfully launched a card program in Europe, APAC region and issued its own Token — WXT. In 2021, the company processed $10 billion worth of transactions.
Wirex is based in London, with offices in Singapore, Dallas, Dublin and Atlanta. The R&D centre is located in Ukraine. Nearly 400 specialists work globally on Wirex products. By the end of 2022, Wirex plans to expand its team to 600 people. There are currently over 60 opened positions in Wirex offices.
To reflect the growth of the metaverse, throughout 2021, the company has expanded their product to enable mainstream access to DeFi. Starting with the launch of their popular X-Accounts feature, offering unprecedented levels of interest, Wirex has continued to add to their DeFi arsenal with the release of the non-custodial Wirex Wallet and a partnership with Nereus, a decentralised liquidity market.
Wirex's mission is to empower people to enjoy the benefits of a world where all currencies are equal.
