Crypto firm Simplex becomes a principal member of Visa in Europe

Simplex, an Israel-based company that provides fiat onramp services to crypto firms, has become a principal member of Visa in Europe.

The membership allows Simplex to issue Visa debit cards to its customers that include popular crypto exchanges and wallets. Simplex is a business-to-business (B2B) firm, meaning it caters to other companies.

Simplex CEO Nimrod Lehavi told The Block that the firm worked with Visa for a few months, and the principal membership will help it grow the adoption of crypto further. "Our partners can enable their users to make purchases anywhere Visa is accepted," said Lehavi.

The membership comes less than a month after Simplex launched its new banking service, enabling crypto firms to offer local and global payment methods to their users. Lehavi said offering Visa cards was a "clear next step to help our partners grow enablement to their users."

Last week, crypto card issuer Wirex also received principal membership of Visa in Europe. Lehavi said the key difference between the two is that Simplex's membership is focused on "wider ecosystem enablement, i.e., granting accessibility throughout our partner network — enabling them to offer branded cards to their users."