Online payments firm Paysafe announced that its digital wallet, Skrill, is teaming up with the cryptocurrency platform Coinbase to expand into the U.S.
“U.S. consumer interest in cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency trading is stronger than ever,” Lorenzo Pellegrino, CEO of Skrill, NETELLER and Income Access at Paysafe, said in a press release on Thursday (March 25). Pellegrino added that by teaming with Coinbase, Skrill can better meet the needs of its user base “with a best-in-class digital wallet.”
Under the partnership, Coinbase will give Skrill a white-label solution for cryptocurrency as it continues to grow, enabling its users in 37 states and territories to seamlessly trade numerous digital assets.
Skrill introduced its crypto offering in 2018 and quickly branched out into more than 30 countries. As an existing Skrill liquidity exchange partner in Europe, Coinbase will enable people in those states to trade bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and other cryptocurrencies.
“As we focus on building the crypto-economy, we look to partner with leaders like Skrill who can white-label our turnkey solution to provide and support digital assets to their clients without having to learn the nuances of building a crypto exchange,” said Brett Tejpaul, head of institutional trading at Coinbase.
Skrill customers can use bitcoin to purchase other cryptos without first having to convert holdings back into fiat currencies. This entails a smaller number of overall transactions, which means lower fees.
Skrill’s U.S. crypto expansion adds to other milestones in the country, including the Skrill Visa Prepaid Card, Skrill Money Transfer remittance, and Skrill Knect loyalty and rewards program, the release said.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said earlier this week that cryptocurrencies that are not pegged to an underlying asset or to fiat are speculative investments, not commerce channels. Central banks have been exploring how best to bring central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) to retail and wholesale payments.
Meanwhile, Paysafe is in the midst of finalizing a deal to file for a public offering via a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger, which could raise around $1 billion in new equity. Paysafe, based in London and acquired for £3 billion ($4 billion) by Blackstone and CVC, conducts business through brands like Income Access, Paysafecard, Skrill and Neteller.
