Social payments app Circle is rapidly building its presence in the European market.
The company announced that it is adding the euro and European cards to its list of supported financial systems. In particular, users of the peer-to-peer payments app in Spain and Ireland can connect their Spanish or Irish bank account to the app to send and receive money within their countries and across borders.
“More than a payment app,” Circle said its goal is to make online payments as simple and convenient as possible, while also making sure that additional safety measures and user privacy protection are in place.
“Unlike existing systems that are closed and proprietary, we use open internet standards and protocols, including the blockchain (allowing us to offer this service for free),” the company said in its website.
The platform current plays host to major credit cards, including Mastercard and Visa through accounts from United States and UK. However, not all Circle accounts are able to hold euros and bitcoins simultaneously. Among the countries that offer support for Euro cards include Austria, Belgium, Estonia, France and Germany, while accounts from countries such as Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and United Kingdom can hold euros.
The U.S.-based social payment provider made its Europe debut in April, when it launched for UK users with sterling as its second fiat currency after the dollar, according to Tech Crunch.
Since then, Circle has raised $60 million in funding back in June and has also ventured into China with Circle China. Circle was also one of the first third party apps included in Apple’s new iPhone 7. The Cupertino-based tech giant has started allowing blockchain-based payments applications to be integrated with iMessage in its IOS 10 update.
A spokesman for the company told the news outlet that they are eyeing to penetrate the larger markets such as France, Italy and Germany, while “others will fast follow.”
Current bitcoin price and trade volume
The price of bitcoin dropped to $630.22 early Thursday morning, with a trade volume of $4.2 million.
