New Wirex & Utorg Partnership Enables Real-Time Crypto Card Payments
Wirex and Utorg have partnered to connect self-custodial wallets with crypto debit cards across 130 countries. Conversion happens at point of sale in real time. The integration reaches Utorg's 2 million users with Apple Pay and Google Pay support.
Quick Insights
- Wirex and Utorg have partnered to let users spend crypto at over 80 million merchants in 130+ countries through self-custodial wallets connected to Visa and Mastercard debit cards.
- Utorg serves over 2 million users across 190 countries. Wirex has processed $20 billion+ in transactions since 2014 and holds principal membership with both Visa and Mastercard.
- Crypto-to-fiat conversion happens at the point of sale in real time, with no prefunding required. The integration supports Apple Pay and Google Pay.
Wirex, a crypto payments platform and Banking-as-a-Service provider, has announced a partnership with Utorg, a fintech company building consumer infrastructure for the stablecoin economy. The deal connects Utorg's 2 million-user wallet platform with Wirex's card issuance and banking rails, giving users the ability to spend crypto holdings at merchants worldwide through a debit card while keeping their assets in self-custodial wallets.
The integration goes live in weeks rather than months, according to the companies. Through a single API connection, Utorg gains access to virtual and physical card issuance, EUR and USD IBAN accounts with SEPA Instant and Faster Payments connectivity, and real-time crypto-to-fiat conversion at the point of sale.
- Virtual and physical debit cards with Apple Pay and Google Pay support
- EUR and USD IBAN accounts across 30+ countries
- Real-time crypto-to-fiat conversion at point of sale with no prefunding
- Self-custodial model preserved throughout the spending flow
How the Crypto-to-Card Flow Actually Works
The practical problem this addresses is one that most crypto holders are familiar with: turning digital assets into something you can use at a shop, a restaurant, or an online checkout without selling to an exchange first and waiting for a bank transfer. Wirex's infrastructure handles the conversion in real time at the moment of purchase, so the user pays in crypto and the merchant receives fiat.
"We built Utorg to bridge the gap between the traditional financial system and the emerging stablecoin economy. Partnering with Wirex allows us to extend that experience further by enabling global spending directly from the same environment where users manage their crypto."
Wirex has processed over $20 billion in transactions across 130 countries since launching in 2014 and holds principal membership with both Visa and Mastercard. Utorg, founded in 2020, has built a platform connecting local payment systems with stablecoin markets across 190 countries. The partnership adds Utorg to a roster of crypto-native platforms using Wirex BaaS for card programmes, alongside Cardano, Simple App, COCA, and others.
