Purse Expands Into Europe, Partners With Swiss Bitcoin Broker Bity

Purse announced a partnership with Swiss bitcoin broker Bity on Tuesday. This is the company’s first partnership with a broker in Europe, where it currently does not have a large presence. Bitcoin.com caught up with both Purse and Bity to learn more about the partnership.

Also read: Purse and Unocoin Partner to ‘Drive Indian Bitcoin Adoption’

Expanding into Europe

Prior to the partnership with Bity, Purse already has a few on-ramps to use for purchasing bitcoin.

“We are partnered directly with Coinbase and Shapeshift which are integrated natively. And, we have exchange partnerships with Unocoin (India), Coinsecure(India), Coins.ph (Philippines), Airbitz, and Bitso (Latin America/Mexico) as well”, Purse Head of Growth and Product Content, Steven Mckie, told Bitcoin.com.

According to the company’s latest data, the U.S. tops the list with 40 percent user base, followed by India, Venezuela, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Japan. The company hopes that the partnership with Bity will increase the number of users in Europe.

Bity is a Swiss cryptocurrency broker which serves the majority of users in Switzerland, France, and Germany but operates throughout Europe. The exchange accepts both EUR and CHF. “By partnering, Purse can increase the number of on-ramps for individuals looking to purchase bitcoin in order to spend them on our unique service”, according to Purse’s announcement.

Cross Promotions, New Users for Purse and Bity

All of Purse’s partners, including Bity, “each promote our e-commerce services either via in-wallet promotion to direct users to our service as an affiliate, or we use a GeoIP filtering modal that directs new users to our various partners as the go-to exchange to buy bitcoin in their particular region”, Mckie described. He added that:

Bity is currently promoting our site through their platform, and we will be directing our users from various geo locations to their service to quickly get started to buy bitcoin. The more on-ramps to buy bitcoin, the more new users Purse can capture.

Cross promotion has already begun. An ad that says “Save 15% Off Amazon with Bitcoin. Purse.io and Bity.com together can help you save money on all your online purchases from Amazon” can be seen on the Bity account log in page.

Alexis Roussel, Bity’s co-founder, shared with Bitcoin.com: “The whole Bity team are regular users of Purse. We were already recommending it and using it as a very good example of bitcoin usage. Partnering with Purse was definitely a no-brainer for us”.

Other Expansions Planned

“Currently, we see our largest growth in Venezuela, Brazil, Philippines, and India,” Mckie said, adding that the company has more partnerships in the pipeline to expand into a few more key markets including more exchanges.

More interest is found in “areas with economic uncertainty/currency volatility where bitcoin is the best hedge to protect wealth”, he further noted. Furthermore, he said: “Most of the users in emerging markets see Purse more as a utility than just a normal e-commerce site, and depend on our site as a means to live normally”.

What do you think of Purse’s partnership with Bity? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Purse, and Bity

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