Wirex may suffer card outage in EEA due to UAB PayrNet licensing issue

Debit cards provided through crypto payment service Wirex may stop functioning in the European Economic Area (EEA), according to a June 23 email the company sent out to a few of its clients. The hazard of blockage was set off by Lithuanias central bank revoking the license of UAB PayrNet, Wirexs card provider.This news follows Wirexs competitor, Cryptopay, likewise announced that its cards may stop working in the area due to the exact same issue.June 22 email sent out to Wirex customers. Source: WirexWirex is a multi-currency crypto payment app that features fiat on-ramps and off-ramps, in addition to debit cards. It declared in 2020 to have over 3 million users throughout Europe and Asia.The email sent to consumers stated that “our current card partner has actually experienced issues and this is triggering a disturbance in the debit card service for EEA customers.” This disruption “has no effect on your ability to access your funds through any other Wirex suggests, such as our IBAN service, or via transfer and purchase of cryptocurrency on the Wirex app.” Customers do not need to take any action as an outcome of this info, given that funds are kept in the app and untouched by the card services issue.Wirex stated that the reason for the issue was UAB PayrNet, not any problems within Wirexs system.Related: Robinhood buys credit card fintech X1 for $95MOn June 22, the Bank of Lithuania announced it was revoking UAB PayrNets electronic money organization (EMI) license “for serious, multiple and organized violations of legal acts.” To name a few allegations, the reserve bank declared that PayrNet stopped working to appropriately administer Anti-Money laundering (AML) arrangements to avoid its services from being used for illegal financing.In its announcement, the Bank of Lithuania claimed that customer funds are safe, stating that they are “safeguarded in separate devoted accounts.”Cointelegraph has actually attempted to get in touch with UAB Payrnet through email, however has not gotten a response by the time of publication. Payrnets director, Stephenas Couttie, apparently claimed that the reserve banks actions are “not appropriate for the offenses committed,” according to a Google translation of text from Lithuanian news site Verslo Žinios. This seems to suggest that the director feels PayrNet is undergoing excessive penalty, disproportionate to the violations dedicated. In its e-mail to customers, Wirex said it is changing to Transact Payments Malta Limited to handle its debit card services. This strategy was already in the works, however is being sped up due to the current issues. It is “striving” with both PayrNet and Transact to get its debit card system up and running again as quickly as possible.In the meantime, consumers in the EEA region might not have the ability to use their cards.Wirex has been expanding its service offerings over the previous 2 years. In August 2022, it partnered with 1Inch to offer wallet-based token swaps to its clients. In February 2022, it integrated with the Avalanche (AVAX) network, allowing users to deposit AVAX and spend it through a debit card.