UnionPay, China’s answer to Visa and Mastercard, has partnered with Korean payment provider Danal to introduce a virtual pre-paid card for travelers to places including China.
The prepaid mobile card, available by the end of 2020, will be accessible via Danal‘s payment app Paycoin Wallet and be accepted at more than 30 million UnionPay merchants across 179 countries and regions, including China.
Although Paycoin is a crypto asset, the partnership will not involve any cryptocurrency use. As South China Morning Post says, Danal users will top up the virtual card using KRW and pay with local currency. The clearing between Danal and UnionPay will be in USD.
The Paycoin app is mostly used by Koreans, but the company launched a global app in October 2020 and, as they suggest, is on the way to making its service accessible globally.
