Capital A’s fintech arm BigPay is making a foray into the cryptocurrency space

• Malaysia-based fintech firm BigPay partnered with Singapore-based crypto payment firm TripleA to launch its crypto top-up feature.
• Users can seamlessly convert crypto-assets into cash to spend via the BigPay debit card.
• Currently, Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD Coin and Tether are the accepted cryptocurrencies, with plans to expand the accepted currencies.

BigPay, the fintech arm of Asia’s leading low-cost airline AirAsia, has entered the cryptocurrency space through a partnership with Singapore-based crypto payment firm TripleA. The Southeast Asian challenger bank announced its latest feature – Crypto top-up – which allows users to seamlessly convert crypto assets into cash that they can spend using their BigPay debit cards.

In a statement to the media, BigPay regrets that the cryptocurrencies currently accepted for fulfillment are Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), USD Coin (USDC) and Tether (USDT), with plans to expand the accepted currencies in the near future. The latest feature comes as an addition to BigPay’s existing two top-up methods – credit and debit cards. “BigPay’s launch of the new feature will be a transparent conversion process that does not involve hidden fees for the user, as seen in many crypto-to-fiat transactions,” the company said on Thursday.

“We believe in a regulated financial system that takes the best of both crypto and traditional finance – to increase efficiency and value for the end user. We want to enable users to interact with digital assets in a safe and secure manner and facilitate overall interoperability,” said BigPay CEO and Co-Founder Salim Dhanani.

The collaboration with Triple A allows BigPay to make use of the former’s over 300 million crypto owners worldwide. “With the addition of this new payment method, we are also pleased to continue enabling accessible and transparent digital financial services for BigPay’s customers.” TripleA CEO Eric Barbier noted.

Recently, BigPay added three new services to its Major Payment Institution (MPI) license issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for account issuance service, domestic money transfer and e-money issuance service in Singapore. Under the Payment Services Act 2019, BigPay said it is licensed as an MPI to operate the business of cross-border money transfer services, and now account issuance service, domestic money transfer and e-money issuance.

As claimed by BigPay, the company has more than doubled its user base in Singapore this year, and will further accelerate its growth with the issuance of the three new licenses. The firm said it currently has four out of seven key regulated activities under the licensing framework.

Earlier this year, after nearly a year of delays, Bigpay finally enabled cashless and contactless QR payments on its app, completes the offer as an e-wallet player. The fintech platform was also one of the contenders for the digital banking license in Malaysia, but had failed to come through.

Over the past five years, BigPay claimed to have helped over two million Malaysians access digital financial services while adding a number of regulated financial products on top of the e-money account, such as international money transfer, micro-insurance and recently digital personal loans.