PayPal alternatives (EMIs) that are bitcoin friendly in 2020
Cryptocurrencies have faced and continue to face challenges from banks and other traditional financial institutions. Bitcoin is an innovation that changed the face of the global financial landscape, and some of those financial institutions have found it hard to adjust to the new trend.
Electronic money institutions (EMIs) such as PayPal, Payoneer, and a few others haven’t been fans of Bitcoin. However, there are other EMIs with a more positive approach toward cryptocurrencies, allowing users to purchase and sell Bitcoin on their platforms. In this post, we will take a look at some of the EMIs that support Bitcoin.
EMIs supporting Bitcoin purchase and sell
Revolut
Revolut is a UK-based electronic money firm that allows people to purchase Bitcoin from their platform. In addition to Bitcoin, Revolut also supports Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and XRP. With over 4 million accounts on the platform, Revolut is one of the largest EMIs that currently support Bitcoin purchase. The platform gives users UK domestic aggregate IBAN once they register.
The Revolut platform is available both on web and mobile. They have a MasterCard that is used to pay Bitcoin purchases. What makes Revolut more amazing is the fact that it supports 29 fiat currencies. Thus, users all over can choose from the fiat currencies available when making transactions.
Although Revolut is not a crypto exchange, they have real-time cryptocurrency graphs displaying the current rate of Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies. Users can also set up price alerts to keep them updated when Bitcoin or the other cryptos hit the desired value.
At the moment, Revolut is only available to legal residents in the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland, and Australia.
Bitwala
Based in Germany, Bitwala is an electronic money institution that aims to ease people’s transition between the crypto space and the fiat world. The EMI achieved this via a partnership with SolarisBank, a European Central Bank (ECB) and BaFin regulated bank. Bitwala is focused on the German market at the moment, and users are given an IBAN once they register on the platform.
From the onset, Bitwala was designed to make it easier for crypto users to purchase Bitcoin. The platform issues MasterCard debit cards to its users and has an in-built BTC wallet, which also allows trading. With the debit cards, users can easily convert their cryptocurrencies to fiat and spend it anywhere they wish. To boost credibility, deposits of €100,000 are protected by the German Deposit Guarantee Scheme (DGS)
MisterTango
MisterTango is one of the EMIs that supports Bitcoin purchase. What makes MisterTango an attractive option is that they allow users to open either a personal or a business account. The Lithuanian-based company enables crypto users, and firms to get access to traditional financial services.
In terms of security, MisterTango ensures that deposits are stored in Central Bank and other trusted Scandinavian banks. The IBAN for MisterTango is Lithuania. MisterTango has some attractive features such as the meager transaction fees compared to exchanges, the money-saving solution, and more. At the moment, MisterTango doesn’t issue a debit card. However, the team is working towards that and could be ready in a few months.
MisterTango is not available to users in the United States, some African and Middle Eastern countries like Tunisia, Iran, Iraq, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Syria, Ethiopia, Uganda, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and a few others.
LeuPay
LeuPay is based in Malta, so it’s not really a surprise that they offer Bitcoin services to their users. According to LeuPay, they have embraced Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and allow their customers to transfer funds to crypto trading platforms. The IBAN here is for Malta and enable them to process transactions faster. Their services are available to users in SEPA countries.
Using LeuPay, people all over the world can fund their accounts and send the money to crypto exchanges to purchase Bitcoin. All you have to do is to select your crypto trading platform, fund your LeuPay account, and transfer the funds to the trading platform. You can purchase Bitcoin from the trading platform afterward. LeuPay issues MasterCard to help users with their online purchases.
Skrill
Skrill has garnered trust as one of the leading EMIs in the world. It is one of the EMIs that allow people to purchase Bitcoin using fiat currencies without extra verification. It supports 40 fiat currencies and other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin Cash, EOS, Ether, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin, XLM, XRP, and 0x.
According to Skrill, the maximum amount to purchase Bitcoin or the other cryptos depends on the transaction limits associated with an account. Similar to the platforms mentioned above, Skrill also offers an IBAN to its users. It has a prepaid MasterCard that is issued to a customer after registering on the platform. Skrill is available to users all over the world with the exception of Japan, Afghanistan, Libya, Cuba, Angola, Iran, Iraq, and a few others.
Neteller
Neteller is another reputable EMI that allows people to purchase and sell Bitcoin via their platform. You can buy Bitcoin and other cryptos like Bitcoin Cash, EOS, Ether, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin, XLM, XRP and 0x instantly using any of the 28 fiat currencies they support.
Neteller provides users with the Net+ prepaid MasterCard which can be used for online purchases. They also give an IBAN number to help with international transactions. The prepaid MasterCard is only eligible for users in SEPA countries such as Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Croatia, Belgium, and others.
It’s also good to mention a list of popular EMIs that aren’t crypto friendly such as Payoneer, PayPal, etc. Focus on who is eligible for each EMI, trust, whether you can get a card or personalized IBAN, limits.
Worldcore
Worldcore is a Czech Republic-based EMI that launched its cryptocurrency exchange to support Bitcoin purchase. The company which began operations in 2015 allows users to purchase Bitcoin in addition to other cryptos such as Ethereum, Dash and ERC20 tokens.
The company issues a Visa Card with an IBAN and currently supports only three fiat currencies, EUR, USD, and the GBP. It has been around for just a few years and is yet to command a significant trust in the market.
EMIs that don’t support Bitcoin purchase
We have reviewed some of the EMIs that allows users to purchase and sell Bitcoin on their platforms. However, there are others that are yet to embrace Bitcoin, making it very hard for their customers to buy the cryptocurrency.
PayPal
PayPal is currently the most extensive and widely used EMI in the world. It is supported in virtually all countries across the globe. However, despite its broad reach and a large userbase, PayPal doesn’t support Bitcoin purchase.
Payoneer
This is another big name in the EMI that has attracted a lot of interest over the past few years. The company has a similar business model to PayPal but doesn’t support Bitcoin purchase and sale yet on its platform.
Monese
Estonia-based Monese doesn’t support Bitcoin transactions anymore. The company has an e-money license and issues a VISA card.
There are other EMIs that don’t support Bitcoin transactions, including Holvi, Bred espace, N26, Paysera, and a few others. Stay away from these when dealing with bitcoin, it is not worth the trouble.
Other sources: https://www.streber.org/list-of-offshore-banks/list-emi-digital-banks/