I'm seeing an interesting project gaining traction in the PayFi wave. KOLO has launched a hybrid digital wallet with a debit card that works with Mastercard and Visa anywhere in the world. Basically, you can spend your digital assets at millions of merchants — which makes a lot of sense for those trying to use crypto in everyday life.

What caught my attention is that KOLO offers both custodial and non-custodial wallets, so you choose the level of control you want. And it’s not just a regular card — it has integration with Telegram (which is trending with mini-apps), a dedicated app, and a web interface. It supports automatic conversion of BTC, ETH, USDT, TRX, ARB, LTC, DOGE, and others directly into the local currency.

CEO Pavel Luchkovskyi explains that the idea is to remove barriers between traditional finance and digital assets. Like, you fund the card with crypto or fiat currency (USD, EUR), and you can buy, sell, or earn yields in DeFi all in one place. There’s even an AI-optimized exchange route to get the best rates.

The project already has over 9 million users in the ecosystem. They even partnered with CATS (that meme coin from TON) to offer a themed card skin. Users earned tokens $CATS for engagement, sharing cat photos, and completing missions — this kind of collaboration was pretty creative.

From what I saw in the roadmap, KOLO already integrated personal IBAN and SWIFT in early 2025, and expanded to Europe, Asia, and Africa. They launched full versions of the iOS and Android apps at the end of last year. Security features include 2FA and biometric authentication, so it’s well protected.

It’s a good example of how the PayFi trend is truly connecting crypto with practical use. If you’re looking for a more integrated way to spend your digital assets, it’s worth checking out what KOLO is offering. The folks following this space are already in.