Skrill/Neteller decision to withdraw prepaid Mastercard service is big win for bitcoin

Skrill customers in dozens of countries around the world, including China and Russia, received an unexpected email from Skrill informing them that from November 25th they would no longer be able to use their prepaid Mastercard facility. Since Neteller is also owned by Paysafe Group, it is expected that the Neteller debit card will also stop functioning in dozens of countries around the world. The only countries that remain unaffected are those in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), which comprises of the 19 eurozone countries and a number others who have signed the European Economic Area agreement. If you don't live in one of these 34 countries then you will no longer be able to use your Skrill Mastercard to make withdrawals at ATM's or fund your online gambling accounts.

This will be a major blow to online poker players and sports bettors in countries like Brazil, Russia, China and Australia who have long used the popular prepaid debit cards as a means to fund their gambling accounts. This decision will probably help increase bitcoin adoption as Skrill and NETELLER customers in over 60 countries look for alternative ways to deposit at their favourite sportsbook, casino or poker room. Many online gambling sites will suffer from this unexpected announcement and will be eager to offer their players a decentralised and censorship resistant payment method.

If you live in a any one of these countries, your service will remain unaffected...

• Austria
• Belgium
• Bulgaria
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Iceland
• Ireland
• Italy
• Latvia
• Liechtenstein
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• Monaco
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Romania
• San Marino
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• United Kingdom

 

Yes. Both NETELLER and Skrill are affected. We have been told that customers in Russia and China will be allowed to use their debit cards until they expire, although users in the Crimea have already had their cards suspended.

 

I'm guess because of stricter AML/KYC around the world. It was becoming a legal nightmare for them to offer Mastercard facilities outside of Europe.

 

CoinJournal recently published an article about how bitcoin is disrupting the online gambling industry that pretty much backs up the assertion that bitcoin will be huge for both the online gambling and affiliate industries.

 

Skrill now allows their players to deposit funds using bitcoin via BitPay. You will have to pay a fee of 1% however,

 

My guess is the problem stems from their credit card issuer. From what I can tell, they all seem to use "WaveCrest" as their credit card provider. If WaveCrest decide to change their policy regarding which countries they service, then all the companies who use their service will have to go along with it.

 

It's worth noting that you can now buy Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum on Skrill also.