Elrond Network acquires EU-licensed payments firm Twispay

The European blockchain project Elrond Network has acquired the Romania-licensed payments services provider Twispay, authorised to issue electronic money.

BREAKING: The Romanian Central Bank approves the acquisition of e-money institution Twispay by Elrond.

*This landmark decision puts @ElrondNetwork in a strategic position for European digital finance, paving the way for crypto debit cards & stablecoins.*https://t.co/KeC5HsBPWx

— Beniamin Mincu 🔥🌓 (@beniaminmincu) March 10, 2022

The firm is also a major participant in the Visa and Mastercard networks, which implies the ability to issue payment cards.

The financial terms of the deal, which received approval from the National Bank of Romania, were not disclosed.

According to a statement, consultations with the regulator ran for several rounds since October 2021. The central bank’s decision was described by Elrond as ‘significant’, and the acquisition as ‘the first strategic step in building a bridge between traditional finance and the crypto space’.

Under the existing authorisations, Twispay can operate across the entire European Economic Area, which includes EU countries, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.

Under proposed European Commission cryptocurrency regulation rules, licensed electronic money institutions will be entitled to issue stablecoins. Elrond noted that this would open new strategic opportunities for using blockchain technology.

Among other potential offerings the firm is considering under future rules are cryptocurrency-supporting debit cards, services in DeFi and NFT spaces, and other Web 3.0 services.

In November 2021, Elrond Network launched a decentralized exchange Maiar DEX. The project’s mainnet began operating in July with a claimed throughput of 263,000 TPS.