In the latest example of a fintech company looking to branch into crypto, Australian buy-now-pay-later company Zip Pay has announced it will launch crypto trading services in the next 12 months, Reuters reports.
Fast facts
- Zip co-founder Peter Gray told Reuters that crypto trading was one of the most requested features by users of the company, which is looking to expand its services to compete with larger rivals in the BNPL industry Afterpay and Klarna.
- The biggest driver of fourth-quarter growth for Zip was the U.S., where it trades under the name Quadpay. The company is planning on rebranding as Zip in the U.S. to consolidate the brand when it launches crypto trading services there and in Australia in the next 12 months.
- “We know our younger generation of customers seek additional products and services that are relevant to them,” Gray told Reuters. And what is relevant to them increasingly appears to be crypto. Forkast.News reported last month that the percentage of Generation Z (people born between the late 1990s and 2010) investing in crypto in Australia grew from 15% to 31% in the first six months of 2021.
- In more good news for Australian crypto investors, local company CryptoSpend recently announced a partnership with Visa to allow cardholders to pay with several cryptocurrencies anywhere Visa is accepted. Due for launch in September, the new card works by holding several cryptocurrencies in a wallet but crediting the merchant with the equivalent amount of Australian dollars.