https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-debit-cards-non-european-residents-visas-new-rules/
I tried to find out more about bitFlyer's new card offering, with mixed results. Apparently the card itself is the vandle card: https://vandle.jp/
It's denominated in Yen only, rather than the common USD, GBP and EU found on most such cards. In my experience, it doesn't matter if merchants sell in a different currency as the conversions are handled seamlessly by the card issuer.
So far I've not been able to find English-language versions of the site, and Google Translate leaves a lot of questions unanswered: https://bitflyer.jp/vpc
I have read that the new card supports customers in 200 countries - if true that would be by far the widest distribution I've seen. I haven't been able to find out how they handle KYC requirements, proof-of-identity, and so forth - or even how they avoid the new Visa requirements that have taken down their competitors.
If anyone can offer more details, please post them.
Yeah, I've been witnessing a tightening noose on Visa's cooperations with N America and European services. I used to be able to use a few Visa/Mastercard accounts across the board, but now only the ones I have registered with a Malaysian bank can be used anywhere in the world. But my bank's told me this will also change from 2020 onwards. From what I understand, the regional offices still have their own rules, obviously those under EU jurisdictions will have to comply with ECB.
My feeling is that UK will be the next ground fertile for ex-EU proliferation, once Brexit (if ever!) gets fully underway.
And yeah, it doesn't matter the currency denomination. My Malaysian ringgit Visa works perfectly everywhere I've been.