Author: Following the drama with Wirecard, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has suspended its subsidiary Wirecard Card Solutions to conduct any regulated activities.
Since Wirecard Card Solutions issue cryptocurrency debit cards for TenX and Crypto.com, both companies published statements ensuring that customers’ funds are safe, but some operations could be affected.
UK FCA Suspends Wirecard Card Solutions
As CryptoPotato reported recently, the German-based online payment processor Wirecard was unable to locate over $2.1 billion of company funds. The situation quickly intensified with plunging company stocks, the firm’s CEO quit, and just yesterday, Wirecard filed for insolvency.
The problems spiraled earlier today as the UK FCA, which authorizes and supervises the subsidiary Wirecard Card Solutions, announced its suspension. By doing so, the regulator imposed several requirements on the company.
Namely, “must not dispose of any assets or funds, must not carry on any regulated activities, must set out a statement on its website and communicate to customers that it is no longer permitted to conduct any regulated activities.”
While the watchdog admitted that it does not supervise the parent company Wirecard AG, the latest law enforcement issues have pushed towards the suspension of its subsidiary.
The FCA noted that it has been working closely with Wirecard UK and other authorities in the past few days to protect customers. The actions taken today come to “further protect customer money.”
Crypto Companies Respond
As mentioned above, Wirecard Card Solutions issues TenX’s Visa Debit Card and Crypto.com’s MCO Visa Card. Both companies responded earlier today.
“TenX would like to make clear that all of our customer’s crypto and fiat balances are maintained by TenX and not Wirecard. We will keep you up to date on any important information and changes. As of now, the issue has no impact on our operation.” – informed TenX.
Crypto.com said that “we have just been requested to stop all activity on our card programs in the UK and Europe. Our customers in those two regions will not be able to top-up their cards or transact later today.”
Nevertheless, the company also outlined that all customer funds are safe and that it’s working on processing credits to “cryptocurrency wallets equivalent to the fiat balances held on the card.” It should take up to 48 hours for its completion.
Ultimately, Crypto.com has decided to transition the card program to a new provider to resume its regular operations as soon as possible.
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