These are exciting times for cryptocurrency – and not just because the US government is much more supportive of it than the previous administration. As the use of crypto in making the kind of payments once reserved for fiat currency grows, the opportunities to make the most of your investments in the real world increase as well.
However, the fact that more vendors will accept payments in crypto is only part of the story. To elevate crypto’s status and its capacity for use to the level of fiat currency also requires a banking system that will offer the sort of facilities you can presently enjoy with pounds, euros, or dollars.
This is where a major new development in crypto infrastructure will make a huge difference – the emergence of Volta IBANS.
What Is IBAN All About?
IBAN stands for International Bank Account Number. This is a global system designed to recognise individual bank accounts located in various jurisdictions all over the world, although not every country has adopted the system. This makes it possible to make international money transfers rapidly, seamlessly and without error.
Every current account will have an IBAN that supplements the sort code and account number. These can be used in combination so that the account is recognised, along with the fact that the transfer is an international one.
These attributes make IBANS extremely important in fiat currency transactions, not least because it means you can have multiple accounts of your own in different countries and move money between them.
IBANS have been around since 1997, taking advantage of the possibilities of modern electronic banking systems to move money quickly. Back in the final years of the 20th century, there was no such thing as cryptocurrency, so nobody at the time was thinking of extending IBAN access in such a way.
Now, however, the arrival of the Volta IBAN account will change all that. It is designed to bring cryptocurrency into the international banking system in a big way, making possible the kind of movements of crypto that were once the preserve of the familiar currencies we all grew up with (or switched to, in the case of euros).
The Credit Card Is Coming
In addition, the Volta IBAN facility will soon be the newest way to use crypto credit cards, which will be linked to the IBAN system in the way Revolut and Crypto.com are now.
The Volta IBAN system will use familiar systems to make transfers, including the SEPA network for euro transfers in the Eurozone and certain other countries in Europe (including the UK, Channel Islands and Isle of Man, plus some non-EU countries like Iceland, Switzerland and Norway). Users can access Swift for worldwide movements.
Perhaps the most exciting element of the system is the way you can on and off-ramp crypto as you switch between that and fiat currencies. This means, for instance, you can deposit euros into the IBAN account, use it to buy cryptocurrencies and then off-ramp it back into the account. This can then be withdrawn and moved into any account globally.
Such flexibility will be immensely convenient for those who are travelling from place to place, as it will mean that wherever you go, you can use the crypto wherever it is accepted, such as in hotels. Indeed, travellers will be among the crypto users who will benefit most from this system.
Not only will this mean that you can start using cryptocurrency accounts in the same way as fiat bank accounts, even when moving across international borders, but you can also enjoy the benefits of the latest technology that is increasingly enjoyed in the world of fiat banking.
Tap And Go In The Future
For example, the IBAN account will also provide you with the opportunity to access tap and go payments, which means your IBAN card can make contactless payments the same way you will with standard bank accounts. Future developments may include integration with popular mobile applications like Google Pay and Apple Pay.
The fact that these facilities may be coming, as well as an IBAN-linked credit card, means that the system will be even more useful for crypto investors and travellers in due course. Even now, however, you can take advantage of the fact that you can on-and off-ramp cryptocurrency and enjoy the benefits of moving crypto as quickly as you could fiat money.
Such a development is further proof that you can have confidence in cryptocurrency as a means of finance.
It will not be long before just about everything you can do with a fiat currency account will be possible with crypto, with Volta IBAN accounts being a huge step in the direction of making such things possible for those whose transactions occur in multiple countries.