Voyager Digital launches debit card with USDC rewards

Voyager Digtial CEO Stephen Ehrlich joins Yahoo Finance to discuss the debit card launch and the latest in cryptocurrency.

Video transcript

ADAM SHAPIRO: All right, when Voyager Digital reported their quarterly earnings, total revenue from the business and other parts of their enterprises about $81 million. Stephen Ehrlich is the Voyager Digital CEO. He's joining us once again. And congratulations because as of this moment in time, 2.7 million verified users on the platform.

And I believe in a previous interview on a competing network, you pointed out that you're one of the top 20 financial platforms in the world at this point. So it sounds like growth is coming even at a faster pace than we've already seen. And part of that growth is going to be this Mastercard. Is it a debit card because it's using stablecoins? How-- I'm a Luddite. How does this work?

STEPHEN EHRLICH: Well, thank you for having me on the show again. I appreciate being here. And it was a great quarter. But as it relates to the Mastercard and the debit card, it is a debit card. So we've created a card that you can hold USDC and stablecoins, go spend that, and we'll do all the work on the backend and paying the merchant.

So you get access to pay right from that card, so it is a debit card. It's not like some others who have prepaid cards. This is a debit card. You're spending your USDC. And the work that's being done on our backend, that's all the work we've done. All those merchants will get paid in dollars.

SEANA SMITH: Stephen, give us a sense of what you're seeing this current quarter because it's no surprise, crypto prices have been a bit all over the place. They recently hit a record high. Since then, they've been under a bit of pressure. Are you expecting or are you seeing record numbers, as we are starting to see wider and wider adoption?

STEPHEN EHRLICH: We absolutely have in this quarter. We're having a record quarter right now. And we expect to beat-- significantly beat our revenue from the June quarter, which was our previous record. And we're seeing not just the revenues increase, but the number of new accounts from that adoption and on this Mastercard, now we're seeing more and more people pre-register and open accounts with us. This is our best quarter. And it's just the continuation of the growth of Voyager. And we expect that to continue well into 2022 as the adoption curve is starting here.

ADAM SHAPIRO: This Mastercard debit card, why would someone want to do this? What's the benefit of doing this over a traditional bank card? Is it just because you are able to transact with the stablecoin? Or is there other value in having this card?

STEPHEN EHRLICH: You know, it's very interesting because what we do with the stablecoin and what we do with any accounts, we have a robust rewards program that people earn up to 9% by just holding the stablecoin with us. So you get to actually earn up to 9% on your money when the traditional banks are less than 50 basis points, up to 9% up until the time you swipe your card and spend your money. So we're basically reinventing the access to your money by actually letting you earn all the way up to spend time. That hasn't been done in years. I mean, this is a checking account effectively with the earn piece of it.

ADAM SHAPIRO: What-- would a potential holder be able to exceed the balance they have in their account, and then would there be an interest payment? Or does it stop at this is what you got, that's all you can spend?

STEPHEN EHRLICH: Today, the first version of the debit card will be the max you have holding in your USDC balance. In the future, we will expand that. But you can also bill pay with this debit card, and you can also do direct deposit of your paycheck to this debit card as well, as you will have an ABA number and an account number. You have a bank routing number and an account number to go, so you can make that direct deposit. And you could start spending right away and start earning right away right from your paycheck.

SEANA SMITH: David, what are the most popular trades on your platform these days? Is it Bitcoin? Is it Ethereum? Is it something else that's starting to gain a lot of traction?

STEPHEN EHRLICH: Well, you know, you did mention earlier about the volatility. In the last two days, we've seen Bitcoin down about 10%. And that really increases the volume on our platform as people are buying into these dips. But in addition to people buying into the dips on Bitcoin and Ethereum, one coin we're seeing a lot of activity on because it's up over $100 now is Avalanche. And we see a lot of investment coming into the Avalanche coin.

We still see consistent flows into Solana and to Algorand as well, as these are alternatives to Ethereum. And people are seeing the opportunity. Especially with Ethereum and the gas fees related to Ethereum being quite expensive, people are looking for that alternative, and they're buying those other coins.

ADAM SHAPIRO: You raised a question in my mind. And I think as platforms like yours and people like you create the new financial world in which we are all going to be transacting, are you worried-- when you mentioned the deposit of your paycheck and then the bank routing number, are you worried that the regulators-- I mean, the banking regulators are going to crack down on you or looking at what you're doing? Do you have to register with them with this kind of product?

STEPHEN EHRLICH: Well, we have a great banking partner in Metropolitan Commercial Bank that we're using and working with on the deposit of money into the banks as well. So we feel very comfortable in what we're doing and within the regulations that are set forth today. So we're excited about the growth of this. This is an opportunity as we make crypto accessible for everybody, that this is the entry point and trying to get more and more people into the ecosystem and allowing the average person to start creating some wealth, which isn't there in the traditional banking system today.

ADAM SHAPIRO: All right. We look forward to the next steps for Voyager because Voyager Digital, a lot of platforms like yours are creating the world that we're all going to need to be a part of. Steve Ehrlich, all the best--