Swiss crypto hardware wallet provider Tangem has revealed that more than 40% of Tangem Pay payments originate from Latin America, while over 30% come from the United States, highlighting distinct geographic demand patterns even as physical card availability remains restricted in various global markets.
The insights were shared by the company as it officially announced its inaugural physical Visa card designed for seamless in-store purchases, online transactions, and ATM withdrawals. The initial rollout of the new payment product is strictly limited to an exclusive batch of 5,000 cards.
The intersection of decentralized finance and traditional payment rails has long presented both technical and regulatory hurdles for cryptocurrency companies. According to Tangem executives, bridging the gap between blockchain-based self-custody and conventional point-of-sale infrastructure involves navigating a complex web of international compliance frameworks.
"It is not simply a question of where people want crypto cards," Andrey Ilinskiy, head of Tangem Pay, explained in an interview. He added that the rollout ultimately depends on a delicate alignment of market demand, regional regulation, banking infrastructure, and card-issuing requirements. "And today, those maps do not always overlap," Ilinskiy noted.
Under the mechanics of the newly unveiled system, users can fund the physical Visa card directly from their self-custodial wallet. Furthermore, the architecture allows cardholders to move their funds safely back to their personal wallet in the event that the physical card is suspended or closed. This design philosophy underscores the company’s commitment to maintaining user ownership over digital assets, even when interfacing with traditional financial networks.
"Self-custody removes one major boundary: there is no custodian standing between the user and their assets," Tangem said in a statement detailing the product’s architecture. "But when those assets enter a regulated payment network, another set of boundaries appears."
Tangem delivers the cards in nearly 200 countries, excluding only 20
While the global reach of the new product is broad, logistical and regulatory boundaries mean that the physical Tangem Pay cards cannot be delivered everywhere. The company confirmed that it is currently unable to ship the cards to roughly 20 countries worldwide. The list of excluded jurisdictions includes China, Russia, North Korea, and Palestine, among others.
Tangem emphasized that these delivery and availability restrictions do not necessarily mirror the domestic regulatory rules governing cryptocurrency ownership or trading itself. Instead, a combination of stringent Know Your Customer (KYC) mandates, international sanctions, localized banking regulations, and card-issuing compliance standards collectively determine where a crypto-linked payment card can legally and operationally be made available.
The juxtaposition between regions that embrace alternative financial technologies and those equipped to handle regulated card issuance highlights a broader trend within the digital asset industry. In places where traditional banking infrastructure is volatile or restrictive, the demand for cryptocurrency as an alternative financial rail tends to surge. Paradoxically, those exact same economic or regulatory conditions can make the issuance of a traditional, regulated payment card significantly more difficult for fintech providers.
Complementing the core functionality of the new Visa card, Tangem is also introducing a cashback reward program tied to Circle’s widely used USDC stablecoin. Under the incentive structure, eligible purchases will yield a 1% cashback rate for Basic users, while Plus users will enjoy an enhanced 2% reward rate paid out in the dollar-pegged stablecoin.
As part of its broader go-to-market strategy, Tangem plans to showcase the first physical Tangem Pay cards to the public at the upcoming Token2049 conference in Singapore, giving industry participants a firsthand look at how the self-custodial payment solution operates in practice.
