ZUG, Switzerland — The Swiss crypto service Aximetria launched a solution to check bank cards for crypto tolerance. The tool is especially useful for first-time crypto users or new bank card holders who fear their bank will flag card transactions as suspicious when purchasing or selling cryptocurrencies. To eliminate this fear, Aximetria’s new online service AxiCheck lets anyone instantly, anonymously, and safely check how friendly their bank is with the world of cryptocurrencies, and it’s free of charge.
Credit and debit cards remain, by far, one of the most popular means of payment. However, traditional financial institutions look at digital assets with caution, periodically asking clients for clarifications on transactions — even going so far as to block accounts. Previously, in order not to risk their cards, accounts, and savings, users had only one option: to order a branded crypto service card. However, this resulted in an additional cost for both the user and the fintech, ultimately benefiting only banks and payment systems by adding additional costs for their services and commissions. Now, users can check in advance how their banks will react when dealing with cryptocurrency transactions.
Over the past 12 months, over 100,000 cards (including MasterCard and Visa) have been used to facilitate transactions through Aximetria, issued by 427 banks from 80 countries. AxiCheck was developed based on the statistics of making purchases using cryptocurrency and withdrawing funds to various cards globally.
To check for crypto-tolerance, users input the first six digits, or the bank identification number (BIN), of their cards into the AxiCheck service. There is no personal information in the BIN, and it does not provide access to the user's bank account.
Cards are be assigned to one of four categories.
- 100% crypto — operations using such cards are successful.
- Crypto ready — the card is suitable for cryptocurrency operations with a very high probability for success.
- 50% crypto — there may be problems when attempting to withdrawal funds.
- Crypto-unfriendly — it is not recommended to perform cryptocurrency operations with this card.
AxiCheck checks cards according to the BIN, as cards of one brand can be issued by different issuers. For example, large neobanks in different countries often work under the licenses of local banks, so their cards in Germany and the U.K. will have different BINs.
“One of Aximetria’s most active users are Revolut’s customers,” said Alex Axelrod, founder and CEO of Aximetria. “Despite all the advantages of its main product, subscribers of this British neobank cannot use the crypto purchased through it for subsequent purchase or payments outside the Revolut platform. Revolut users, in fact, do not buy cryptocurrencies, but CFD [Contract for Differences] on the cryptocurrency without the ability to own it. With Aximetria, it’s different; you get Bitcoins at real blockchain addresses, which let you perform any exchange operation: transfer, buy, sell, save, or pay with it in our marketplace.”
The information provided in the AxiCheck bank card verification service is based on Aximetria’s statistics and is for reference only. If the service does not yet have data on a particular bank, the user can subscribe to updates free of charge.
A web version of the service is also available at axicheck.aximetria.com.
