The Avalanche Foundation has introduced the Avalanche Card, a Visa-powered card that allows users to spend cryptocurrency at traditional merchants. This launch may significantly impact the real-world adoption of digital assets.
What is the Avalanche Card?
The Avalanche Card is a crypto-powered payment card developed in partnership with the liquidity provider Rain, enabling users to spend their digital assets anywhere Visa is accepted. It is available both as a physical and digital card, supporting AVAX, Wrapped AVAX (wAVAX), USDT, and USDC, with plans to include Bitcoin and other tokens. Crypto funds are converted to fiat currency during transaction processing.
Why the Avalanche Card Matters
In regions like Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, people face high banking fees, inflation, and limited access to financial services. The Avalanche Card offers an alternative financial solution, allowing crypto holdings to be used for everyday transactions, empowering financial freedom and integrating crypto with mainstream finance.
How the Avalanche Card Works
Unlike traditional prepaid crypto debit cards, the Avalanche Card functions more like a credit card: users load crypto onto the card, establishing a spending limit at 50% of the USD value to account for volatility. The crypto isn’t sold instantly at purchase but is settled once a day at a fixed time, allowing for the freezing of balances, charge disputes, PIN changes, and spending alerts.
The Avalanche Card presents a new method of utilizing cryptocurrencies, combining the convenience of traditional payments with blockchain technology, providing users the benefits of digital assets in the real world.
