Binance to put a stop to its crypto debit card in Latin America and the Middle East

Binance has just announced its intent to stop its crypto debit card in Latin America and the Middle East. However, the company did not reveal the push for this move, stating that it would only impact 1% of its users in the abovementioned regions.

Binance plans to put this suspension into effect by August 25. Binance’s crypto debit card operates like all other debit cards. It allowed users to pay for day-to-day services, with the only significant difference being that cryptocurrency assets were funding the Binance debit cards.

Binance will begin suspension on September 21, but they assured their users in the Middle East and Latin America that they would be able to get access to refunds and settle disputes up until December 20, 2023. What this means is while the suspension will be effective by September 21, users will still have a few months to get refunds of any assets they have tied to the credit cards and the company will still sort out their disputes.

Binance’s discussion about suspending the debit cards first came to light when an X user questioned the platform about issues they’d been having with their debit cards in Columbia. Binance had responded with an announcement that suggested they would soon shut down credit service operations starting from August 25 and gave no further information on the reasoning behind the decision.

The journey towards crypto debit cards for Binance began in early 2020, as they announced their intention to enter the global payment market. By July 2020, Binance had begun shipping crypto debit cards to countries all over Europe and several others worldwide. To further cement this move, Binance partnered with payment processor, Swipe, to offer crypto debit cards in the U.S.

Cointelegraph contacted Binance for more information regarding their decision to suspend the debit card service in these countries. Still, the exchange did not respond or provide further details, only telling Cointelegraph that the move would affect only a tiny portion of their users, less than 1% of the market.

While Binance is sticking to its claim about the move only affecting a small portion of its users, their CEO, Zhao, has reportedly deleted multiple responses to the post of this move.

Conclusion

 While Binance claims that this move will only affect 1% of its user base, some users are worried they will be caught in the fire. Others are worried that the suspension of crypto debit cards in the Middle East and Latin America could just be the first of many countries to suspend their cards. Especially as Binance is not giving any further information on their decision, instead sticking to reassuring users of the percentage that would be affected.