Tangem Launches Visa Card as Crypto Access Gaps Persist

Tangem Visa card — Swiss crypto wallet provider Tangem has launched its first physical Visa card, highlighting a persistent mismatch between global demand for crypto payment cards and the regulatory and banking infrastructure required to issue them.

The company announced the card on Wednesday for in-store and online purchases and ATM withdrawals, with an initial release limited to 5,000 units. Users can fund the card directly from their self-custodial Tangem wallet and move funds back if the card is suspended.

Andrey Ilinskiy, head of Tangem Pay, told Cointelegraph that demand is not simply about where people want crypto cards, but “where demand, regulation, banking infrastructure and card-issuing requirements happen to line up — and today, those maps do not always overlap.” The company said more than 40% of its payments come from Latin America and over 30% from the US.

Tangem said it cannot currently deliver physical cards to roughly 20 countries, including China, Russia, North Korea, and Palestine, citing KYC requirements, sanctions, and local banking rules. The firm is also introducing cashback rewards in Circle’s USDC stablecoin and plans to showcase the cards at Token2049 in Singapore.