Why Revolut is paying for WeWork membership in bitcoin
Revolut has announced that it has used bitcoin to pay for office space for 300 employees in a WeWork in Dallas — its largest office in the United States.
But why has the British neobank, which is valued at a cool $33 billion, opted to use bitcoin in this way?
The point is to underscore a commitment to crypto, according to a Revolut spokesperson, who also highlighted the advantages of using bitcoin for sending money across borders.
“We are a strong believer in crypto having real-life use cases in the future of payments. The advantage of paying in crypto is the ability to make nearly instant payments without middlemen who charge large international remittance fees,” they said.
See more: London fintech Revolut launches new Payday feature in the UK
The spokesperson added that while Revolut doesn’t currently allow its 15 million customers to pay for goods and services using crypto, it is “working towards a future of everyday use cases for crypto in payments.”
The fintech firm has been offering trading in cryptocurrencies since 2017, but didn’t allow customers to transfer bitcoin out of the app and into personal wallets until May this year. It has also been rapidly adding tokens – including Dogecoin – as part of a plan to ramp up its crypto activities.
The why and how
Revolut’s spokesperson also explained exactly how the company is executing the WeWork deal.
Revolut sent WeWork a mutually agreed amount of bitcoin equivalent to the dollar value of the Dallas lease payment. It is the first time the startup has paid a corporate invoice in crypto.
“Equipped with crypto expertise and a trading desk that trades millions of dollars’ worth of crypto a day for our crypto product, we were able to easily purchase the required amount of crypto at a good rate through our exchange partners,” said the spokesperson.
See more: Yapily secures $51M to take advantage of open finance revolution
Revolut did not disclose which crypto exchanges it worked with.
WeWork announced that it would accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment in April, with the aim of enhancing “flexibility and optionality” for members, according to a press release.
