Introducing NearPay: the First Bridge to Fiat Debit Card on NEAR

Web3 users looking for an easy bridge between fiat (currencies like the US Dollar and the Euro) and crypto needn’t wait any longer. NearPay, the first debit card and payments widget in the NEAR ecosystem, now bridges fiat and the crypto world in one seamless user experience. 

Launched in late 2021 by Switzerland-based Kikimora Labs, NearPay announced its debit card wait list in early March. NearPay initially hoped to attract 1,000 users to its wait list, but had more than 18,000 in under a week. 

“We hoped that people would welcome our card product, but we definitely didn’t expect that so many people would show interest,” said Ilya Romanov, Chief Marketing Officer at NearPay. “We highly appreciate the support of the community. And now we are working hard to deliver a product that people are waiting for.”

How the NearPay card works

Set to release later this year, NearPay is a debit card that comes as both a physical card and a mobile-based app. NearPay offers a number of features for consumers, developers, and merchants to make instant transactions and payments using their preferred cryptocurrency, including NEAR. 

“You will see no difference between crypto and fiat payments,” reads the NearPay website. “Simple. Fast. Both directions.”

NearPay also allows users to track their spending through the app, and offers world-class security to keep accounts safe. Though some particulars are still in the works, the NearPay card will support 3DSecure and is already secured through Verified by Visa. There will also be features such as spending limits, with the full feature set becoming available by the end of March or early April. 

A seamless Web3 gateway 

The NearPay team believes that the crypto debit card will be amongst the easiest ways to dive into crypto, making it a seamless part of daily life. 

Consumers can top up their NearPay card balances, and use it to make purchases immediately. “The cards will be NEAR-oriented but support other cryptocurrencies as well,” says Ivan Ilin, Chief Operating Officer at NearPay. 

NearPay offers several tools to developers interested in using the card for their apps and projects. To get started, NearPay offers a plug-and-play widget, simple documentation, webhooks and APIs, and a developer console. 

“For developers, we provide a simple API with an SDK,” says Ilin. “The integration is possible with a website or a mobile application. We provide a merchant dashboard where one can see all the transaction statistics.”

NearPay also helps onboard traditional businesses into the global Web3 ecosystem. The team built a payment gateway for merchants with no transaction or setup fees, allowing businesses to accept crypto for all of their goods and services, while a handy dashboard allows businesses to see data on payments, invoices, and more. 

“For businesses, we support two scenarios: fiat-to-crypto to a user’s wallet and fiat-to-crypto to a merchant’s wallet for a certain order,” Ilin explains. “We work with NFT marketplaces, DeFi projects, and many others.”

Countries supporting NearPay 

The NearPay widget is currently covered in 56 countries and supports 27 currencies. The NearPay team is currently working on adding more supported countries and currencies, as well as making the transaction fee lower for the users.

“Our first cards will be made for Europe,” says Ilin. “But we have plans to cover all of the countries, including the United States and Asia.”

To see the full list of countries currently supporting NearPay, visit Kikimora Labs’ Notion website.