In an exclusive interview to Cointelegraph, Vladimir Dubinin, the CEO of Distributed Lab announced the upcoming launch of a new Bitcoin wallet in Ukraine. Distributed Lab is a research lab that develops different kinds of cryptocurrency projects, while being “specifically driven by designing and implementing the boldest ideas”.
The new wallet will support a BTC/UAH instant exchange option using Visa and Master Card debit cards. Vladimir Dubinin commented:
“One of the banks in Ukraine operates 50% of all debit cards in the country. We are developing a mobile wallet with a feature of instant Bitcoin exchange into local currency. It will offer a very good price rate because a local exchange operator is going to process all the transactions. Users can also buy Bitcoin at low fees using their debit cards.”
According to Vladimir Dubinin, the exchange fee will be about 2-3%. The project aims to get 2,000 active users in the first 2 months after launch. Developers also hope to deploy the wallet to the other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States in the future. When asked about the target audience, Dubinin explained:
“People in Ukraine are seeking for ways to transfer money to their friends and relatives abroad, for example in the US. With our wallet, they could buy bitcoins for fiat, send them to the recipient, who, in turn could convert them back into their own local currency. This project tries to combine a financial instrument that people in Ukraine are familiar with - bank debit cards - with a brand new fintech world that these people have never heard of, or were too afraid to try. And, of course, another major part of our audience are Bitcoin users in Ukraine, people like freelancers who already know and use Bitcoin to accept payment for their services.”