hi, the crypto exchange upstart and mobile banking platform, has today announced a strategic agreement with Contis, a leading Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) provider in Europe. The partnership with Contis means that later this year, eligible hi members will be able to seamlessly spend their digital assets at over 60 million merchants, using a hi Debit Card.

Supporting hi’s mission to build the world’s most user-friendly and functional crypto and fiat platform, this partnership will not only enable hi’s 3 million strong community to use cryptocurrencies to make payments using the hi Debit Card, but also provide eligible members with their personal IBAN accounts for a seamless on/off-ramp.

Contis, Europe’s most comprehensive banking-as-a-service platform, already partners with some of the world’s largest cryptocurrency and blockchain companies. With unique technology provided by Contis, hi not only removes the need to liquidate assets before spending and allows for any digital assets in a hi account to be converted automatically to fiat at point-of-sale, but will also come with Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) functionality that allows members to decide on exactly when their digital assets get converted.

Sean Rach, co-founder of hi, commented: “Our goal is to overcome one of the most significant challenges in the market today – making it simple and seamless for people to spend crypto. Thanks to Contis, we are delighted to be at the forefront of innovation in payments and look forward to rolling our cards out to eligible hi members, starting with Europe later this year.”

Contis Managing Director Lee Johnstone said: “As the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrency pushes forward, we are constantly seeking new ways to make payments more convenient to more people. We are delighted to be partnering with hi to deliver their customers a new debit card service. hi are quickly proving themselves to be a leading global player in the crypto and blockchain space with a unique proposition that is making the utility of crypto frictionless.”

In support of hi’s ambition to provide a simple and exceptional user experience regarding both fiat on and off ramps, this announcement follows the recent introduction of exchange and asset conversion functionalities on the hi platform, as well as deposit by bank transfer. Furthermore, the hi app has been downloaded by over 1.5 million users across the Apple App Store and Google Play, less than three months after launch.