Discover everything about the Binance Card powered by Pomelo

Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world with over 300 million users and one of the highest levels of market liquidity, made a strategic move in Brazil by strengthening its offering with the launch of a physical and virtual card. This allows its users to use their crypto funds in daily life, also integrating into the local payment ecosystem, including Pix.

At Pomelo, we provided our multi-country card issuance infrastructure to enable this integration: issuance, processing, and comprehensive management of the card program, combining cloud-native technology, BIN Sponsorship, and an end-to-end experience ready to scale across the region. We’ll tell you all the details below.

What is the card powered by Pomelo from Binance like?

The Binance Card was developed so that registered users in Brazil can pay simply, whether with a physical or digital card, using the cryptocurrency balances available in their account. This way, they can conduct everyday transactions with digital currencies, integrated into the local payment ecosystem.

The card allows purchases and withdrawals at more than 150 million merchants affiliated with Mastercard worldwide, with instant conversion of multiple cryptocurrencies to local currency and up to 3% cashback.

Brazil plays a strategic role for Binance, which seeks to drive crypto adoption and bring this universe closer to traditional finance, with Mastercard's support to ensure safe and widely accepted payments. According to Chainalysis data, the country is the fifth-largest market in the world for digital asset adoption.

Users in Brazil can use various cryptocurrencies on the Binance Card, such as BTC, ETH, BNB, USDT, among others, by selecting the option directly from the app or the platform.

“Binance built the most comprehensive platform to bring its first billion users to the crypto universe, developing the best services and products to make this journey easier and more efficient. The launch of the Binance Card is yet another example of this commitment. Brazil is a strategic market for the company, and the card is added to a complete portfolio of crypto payment solutions already available to Brazilian users,” says Guilherme Nazar, Binance's regional vice president for Latin America.

How do we assist Binance from Pomelo?

At Pomelo, we provided our multi-country issuance infrastructure to make this operation feasible. We take care of:

• Card issuance and processing: we offer an end-to-end solution for the issuance and processing of prepaid cards, adapted to Binance's business model. It includes product configuration, real-time authorization, and direct connection with payment networks.
• BIN Sponsorship licenses: we provide our Mastercard licenses to issue physical and virtual cards without Binance needing its own license, reducing time-to-market and simplifying local operations.
• External authorization: a mechanism that automatically converts crypto balances to local currency in real-time during the purchase authorization process. This streamlines product use and eliminates user friction.
• Embossing and logistics: we manage the production and distribution of physical cards with specialized local partners.
• 3D Secure: we add an additional layer of security to validate identity in online purchases, reducing frauds such as the use of stolen or cloned cards.
• Tokenization: we enable payments from mobile devices via NFC, enhancing security, reducing fraud risks, and optimizing the digital experience.

The result: an experience that connects the crypto world with the traditional payment network, without friction for the end user.

The importance of our team in this launch

Our team, accustomed to global projects, overcame one of the main challenges of this implementation: operating with a time difference of more than 12 hours between teams. Nonetheless, thanks to an infrastructure prepared for asynchronous work and clear integration processes via APIs, we maintained a steady pace until the go-live.

From day one, the adoption of the Binance Card in Brazil was significant. Binance registered a high volume of users tokenizing their cards and using both the physical and digital versions, positioning this launch as one of the most relevant in terms of initial adoption.

As explained by Rafael Goulart, Country Manager of Pomelo in Brazil:

“The alliance with Binance in Brazil represents much more than a new card program. It is the validation of our ability to support global companies in their entry and expansion into Latin America, with speed and excellence.”