What Went Wrong?
Virtual dollar cards are digital replicas of regular debit cards, however, they are stored in digital wallets.
A handful of fintech companies in Nigeria such as Barter, Klasha, and others, issue Virtual Dollar Cards to their customers.
On Friday 15th of July 2022, some Nigerian fintech startups that offer this service, sent emails to their customers, stating that the service will be unavailable indefinitely beginning from Saturday, July 16, 2022.
For most tech-savvy Nigerians and businesses, paying for various products and services online in other currencies has been less stressful, courtesy of Virtual Dollar Cards, but all that is about to radically change.
The Cause
Apparently, most fintech companies in Nigeria that issue Virtual Dollar Cards are able to do so because of a company called Union54. This company is owned by a Zambian couple, who came together to set up a reliable and easy process to issue Virtual Dollars.
Unfortunately, Union54 is being faced with downtimes. This current issue has been the cause of the halt and in turn, affecting several fintech companies. It is sad that the issue might take a while before it gets resolved.
Temporary Solutions
Individuals and businesses that depend on these Virtual Dollar Cards will have to source an alternative solution to salvage their foreign transactions’ lacuna.
Here are a few options that we proffer:
- They could request a foreign domiciliary account from their local banks.
- They can continue to look for alternative fintech companies offering Virtual Dollar Card services. Apparently, some fintech companies weren’t affected by the downtime.
However, the blurry part of this update is the uncertainty of the set time when these issues will be resolved. This reality baffles fintech companies across Nigeria, primarily because there are only a few or no alternatives to this service at the time this article is being published.
#GeekWorld is a segment for nerdy discussions and regular tech updates. In this edition, we are looking at Virtual dollar cards becoming unavailable to Nigerians.
