Avalanche blockchain now accessible to 4.5M users across Wirex payment ecosystem

Wirex, a digital payment platform that enables users to spend 62 fiat and cryptocurrencies at more than 61 million locations worldwide via the Wirex platform, announced the integration of Avalanche (AVAX) into its ecosystem on Monday. With the move, users can receive, send, store, and exchange AVAX tokens, and add custom tokens via the Avalanche blockchain. The company plans to onboard multiple AVAX based tokens over the next few months.

In addition, Wirex users will be able to earn 20% in annual interest on AVAX through the firm's decentralized finance savings product, X-Accounts. The company has over 4.5 million users in more than 120 countries across its app, wallet, and payment platforms. 

Regarding the development, John Wu, president of Ava Labs, the creator of the AVAX blockchain, said "Wirex is moving fast to make digital assets and the innovation happening on public blockchains more accessible to the masses."

Meanwhile, Wirex CEO and co-founder Pavel Matveev said the addition of AVAX is "helping to develop use cases for the Wirex ecosystem," especially around improving blockchain accessibility. 

Related: Future of finance: US banks partner with crypto custodians

Wirex claims to have developed the world's first crypto-enabled payment card in 2015. In January, the company expanded to the U.S. and onboarded the Polygon, BNB Chain, and Fantom blockchains at around the same time. Wirex also has its own native utility token, WXT, and a crypto reward program that gives cardholders up to 2% back in WXT for every transaction they make. The company has processed more than $5 billion worth of transactions since 2014.