Bitcoin Forum

Economy => Exchanges => Topic started by: warnerbunny on June 07, 2017, 01:33:54 PM



Title: BTC to EUR debit card: unichange.me vs. spectrocoin
Post by: warnerbunny on June 07, 2017, 01:33:54 PM
Here's a comparison between what you get when depositing BTC to an EUR debit card with Unichange.me and Spectrocoin:

Both exchange rates and the blockchain.info BTC-EUR were calculated at the same UTC time.

The rates are calculated for a deposit of 0.06 BTC

Blockchain BTC-EUR rate: 0.06 BTC = 152.06 EUR / 100% of blockchain rate

Unichange BTC-EUR rate: 0.06 BTC = 138.3 EUR / you get 90.95% of blockchain rate / total "fees" EUR 13.76

Spectrocoin BTC-EUR rate: 0.06 BTC = 147.24 EUR /  you get 96.38% of blockchain rate / total "fees" EUR 4.82

Thus, the transfer of 0.06 BTC to EUR debit card  would cost the customer +185% in "fees" using Unichange.me compared to the cost at Spectrocoin.

At Spectrocoin, the full 147.24 EUR then were actually charged to my card without any further fees.

See: https://pasteboard.co/fGePtow4j.png

Other card fees:
Plastic card cost: Spectrocoin €8 / Unichange.me €9
Monthly fee: Spectrocoin €1 / Unichange.me €1
ATM withdrawal fee: Spectrocoin €2.25 / Unichange.me €2.75

Conclusion: I prefer Spectrocoin over Unichange.me.


Title: Re: BTC to EUR debit card: unichange.me vs. spectrocoin
Post by: KingdomHearts on June 07, 2017, 06:49:34 PM
Good job for a quick ready reference.
There are some other factors which is to be considered using European Union Card is, the VAT rules which no one talks about. When using a card, be it virtual or physical, the IP from where the card is being used must much the IP address of the country from where the card is issued, or it may get rejected.


Title: Re: BTC to EUR debit card: unichange.me vs. spectrocoin
Post by: Johninthai on June 08, 2017, 04:55:59 AM
Spectrocoin seems to be extremely slow though, the verification takes ages and the card has still not arrived ? Wonder if it has been sent by mail pidgeon ?


Title: Re: BTC to EUR debit card: unichange.me vs. spectrocoin
Post by: warnerbunny on June 08, 2017, 06:15:41 AM
I ordered the card on May 21. It was shipped on May 31. and arrived on June 6. It was sent with the free shipping option.

Note that the cards of Spectrocoin and Unichange are both issued my the same company MyChoice (https://mychoicecorporate.com). The verivication documents are also checked by this company. I'm waiting for verification since June 6.


Title: Re: BTC to EUR debit card: unichange.me vs. spectrocoin
Post by: warnerbunny on June 08, 2017, 09:12:24 AM
Good job for a quick ready reference.
There are some other factors which is to be considered using European Union Card is, the VAT rules which no one talks about. When using a card, be it virtual or physical, the IP from where the card is being used must much the IP address of the country from where the card is issued, or it may get rejected.

I'm not sure if this is the solution to the issue (also I didn't know about that rule, as I'm not residing in the EU. But one reason I got this card is for using when travelling in the EU):

When you log in on https://mychoicecorporate.com and go to "Card Usage Controls", you can select if transactions in foreign countries are allowed or not:

See this screen-shot: https://pasteboard.co/g0yPxmY33.png


Title: Re: BTC to EUR debit card: unichange.me vs. spectrocoin
Post by: warnerbunny on June 08, 2017, 12:47:52 PM
I also want to mention that on Spectrocoin your BTC are available if your transaction has 1 confirmation, while at Unichange you have to wait for three confirmations.

After the 3rd confirmation Unichange recalculates the exchange rate and automatically changes the BTC to EUR (And they claim they do BTC->USD->EUR which makes no sense to me as they state to have EUR in reserve). When I deposited, the rate changed by about -7% after the 3rd confirmation, while looking at the markets neither the BTC/USD, BTC/EUR or USD/EUR rate changed by this huge amount. At Spectrocoin you receive your deposited BTC and you can choose the moment when you want to change them to EUR by yourself.

Also at Unichange 0.001 BTC is deducted from your deposit for transferring the BTC from your unique deposit address to Unichange's own wallet. While at Spectrocoin you get all the deposited BTC without any deduction.