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The deal is primarily about enhancing the user experience on its payment networks, UPay shared in a press release, but it also hints at the company’s intentions to scale adoption of its crypto cards globally.
UPay is a fintech startup based in Dubai, best known for its prepaid crypto debit cards integrated with Visa and Mastercard networks. They allow users to spend their crypto funds in any store that accepts traditional credit cards. Users typically preload crypto onto their cards or link them to a wallet, so their spending limits are based on the user’s balance. They support cryptocurrencies, including Tether, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USD Coin, and can be used at more than 55 million merchants worldwide. In addition, the cards can be used in ATMs to exchange crypto for cash.
Beyond just “bridging crypto with the traditional financial ecosystem”, UPay offers several advantages, including instant crypto-to-fiat conversions, crypto cashback, and the ability to earn interest on some tokens.
UPay Chief Executive Owen Yang said today’s announcement underscores the company’s desire to elevate its user experience. “Tencent Cloud’s proven, enterprise-grade capabilities give us the technological strength to scale confidently, safeguard our users’ assets, and innovate at speed,” he explained.
 
The choice of Tencent Cloud seems unusual at first glance, given UPay’s minimal foothold in Chinese markets. Tencent is one of China’s largest public cloud infrastructure providers, offering services similar to those of Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, including compute, storage, and networking.
However, Tencent Cloud has an expanding presence outside Mainland China, with availability zones across Southeast Asia, Southern Africa, the Middle East, and the U.S. It recently announced plans to expand its footprint into Saudi Arabia, too, and has extensive experience supporting Web3 startups. That suggests it’s well placed to support UPay’s robust cloud communications infrastructure.
“The digital assets industry requires high standards of security, performance, and reliability,” said Tencent Cloud International’s vice president for the Middle East, Dan Hu.
Source: https://zycrypto.com/upay-to-leverage-tencent-cloud-to-enhance-its-global-crypto-payments-network/