Wedge, a ‘smart’ debit card that lets users pay for everyday purchases with any asset, announced a strategic partnership with Sila Inc., a fintech software platform that provides payment infrastructure as a service. The partnership between the two companies adds a new and improved layer of speed and safety for Wedge customers.
“The integration with Sila puts Wedge in a position to scale our offering and change the way people think about daily spending,” said Billy Roberts, CEO of Wedge. “Instead of moving money around on antiquated and expensive ACH rails with limited capacities to ledger funds between digital wallets and hold funds for our users, Sila allows us to move funds more safely, more quickly, and at a much better scale than competitors. And our users benefit with more robust and reliable digital wallets where they can securely hold cash.”
While Wedge’s executives spoke of their product changing the infrastructures of spending for an everyday consumer, those from Sila spoke more broadly, highlighting innovation’s impact on the larger financial landscape.
“Fintech is changing the way people spend, save and move money,” said Shamir Karkal, co-founder and CEO, Sila Inc. “Sila is supporting companies that work on what’s next in the payments space. Partnering with Wedge, we created a vision for how smart spending solutions can really look at scale. We’re excited to bring our companies together to achieve this innovation.”
Wedge changes how consumers use their assets. Things like stocks, ETF, and cryptocurrencies are enabled for use in everyday purchases. Wedge claims to “put money to work in the markets without sacrificing liquidity.” According to them, this model allows their customers to capitalize on market movements any time they make a purchase.
The concept of actively spending investments is not new. Robinhood, one of the world’s largest digital trading platforms, has begun sending its users debit cards.
Regulators have been historically weary of companies that provide bank-like services but aren’t regulated as such. As digital assets become more accepted both domestically and abroad, it’s likely to see crypto-payment mergers moving forward.