Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin, Dash Can Now Be Spent at 40 Million Stores Worldwide, Thanks to Wirex Debit Card

Digital currency could quite possibly be transformative, providing a paradigm shift in the world’s interactions with money and finance. As Jihan Wu, CEO of Bitmain, recently blogged:

“[Bitcoin] essentially rolls gold, cash, and our credit card system into one. It takes the strengths of each and leaves the weaknesses behind. It has the limited supply quality of gold, but can be used to purchase everyday items. It has the speed of a credit card, but respects and protects your privacy. Transactions are settled instantly like cash, but are recorded on a public ledger.”

Accessibility
Bitcoin and other digital currencies are seriously lacking in one vital area: accessibility. It’s prohibitively difficult for new users to obtain cryptocurrency. An individual who wants to obtain a small amount of Bitcoin would probably find even the easiest route to be rather challenging.

Setting up a Coinbase account would be relatively simple in itself, but then the person must link either a credit card or bank account. Depending on several factors, the purchase may be instant or may require several days for an ACH transaction to be processed. Our new user now owns some shiny new Bitcoin...and probably has no clue what to do next.

Buying larger amounts of Bitcoin is even more difficult, requiring users to go through an extensive process to comply with “Know Your Customer” (KYC) and “Anti-Money Laundering” (AML) laws. This involves submitting numerous personal documents such as driver's licenses and utility bills, then filling out a long questionnaire and awaiting approval. Such users must then figure out what wallet they want to store their currency in, and wrestle with issues such as two-factor authentication and the like.


Read more: https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-dash-can-now-be-spent-at-40-million-stores-worldwide-thanks-to-wirex-debit-card

This has been done so many times before, so not really new IMHO...

Well this I do not agree with.
It is really easy to obtain BTC.
You get a PC/phone/paper wallet and then you ether find some local to buy bitcoin directly, or use a faucet (for really small amounts).
I have help lots of friends to obtain BTC the easy way. Fast and hassle free.
Then showed them where to register, so they can buy BTC easy.


This is done just once, and if you want to invest big amounts (no matter if in Crypto or in other instruments) you will have to go through all this hassle as KYC and AML are obligatory everywhere!

But after all you have to do it once and then you are ok to buy/sell more and more with no hassle at all ;)

One of the big reasons why cryptocurrency most specially Bitcoin has not yet become a major currency (compared to the long-established fiat counterparts) is the lack of accessible infrastructure that an ordinary user or holder can use to purchase products and services. Hopefully, with many companies now coming with their own debit cards which anybody can use online or offline then maybe we can expect more and more transactions done using Bitcoin. With a potentially booming business in cryptocurrency related activities, I am sure that there would be more players in this industry and consumers can have many good choices.

Well if you say that 37th in rank of market cap is not a major then you are correct.
But fighting with the GBP for the 37th position is something major for me...

and ETH is fighting with PHILIPPINES for the 46th place...

So I would say they are pretty major for me..

Even BCH is in the top 100. Fighting Serbia for the 98th place...

That's great. The next barrier would be getting holders to spend it. It's more valuable than fiat in a sense that its value could easily double, and while dips are possible, history says Bitcoin always recovers. It's still much easier to spend fiat, and you don't have to let go of investments to boot. I like that Bitcoin is easier to spend though, because more choices, in this case, is better.

I wouldn't say especially Bitcoin... if anything Bitcoin is the most-accepted of major (or minor) cryptocurrencies. But yes, I've always felt that accepting crypto through yet another payment processor isn't quite the same as accepting Bitcoin as a currency. For me, this is precisely what Coinbase is, a 3rd party payment settlement for merchants who actually still only accept fiat. You pay with Bitcoin to Coinbase who then settle your payment with the Coinbase merchant in fiat.

Still, this is a first step towards recognition, and this is something that Dash will need more if it hopes to scale the heights of Bitcoin.

The Wirex Visa debit card (topic of the article) is issued by Wavecrest Holdings, a company/bank which provides the cards used by most of Wirex's competitors also. Wavecrest Holdings changed its policies recently and withdrew service on its prepaid Visa cards to most people outside Europe. If you live in Europe or a few other places, then the Wirex service might be very useful for you if fiat is required by the merchants you deal with. If you live elsewhere (most of the planet), then Wavecrest has just made things harder for you and the card stops working on October 15th. Wavecrest allegedly was required to make its policy change because of government kyc aml requirements, so "it's for your own good" blah blah.

From the Wirex site: "Wirex Visa® Prepaid Card is issued by WaveCrest Holdings Limited, pursuant to license from Visa Europe." https://wirexapp.com/card/

Because of this development, the article headline "40 Million Stores Worldwide" has become rather misleading, although it is still true if, for example, you live in Europe and use your debit card while traveling abroad.

This situation applies to almost all the debit card providers now, not just Wirex. There are various threads on bct discussing it. I'm guessing it's a temporary setback, but it's very real for now. Read the boilerplate fine print to avoid disappointment.    ;)

 

Bitcoin or Dash debit card make it easier to spend these digital currency directly to the merchants, but 40 Million stores worldwide; yes seems misleading as it will be depend on what's the provider and which country already supported, like you said, it's useful in Europe and few other places. However, acceptance of cryptocurrency is different in every country and bitcoiners/exchanges or another third platform should works together in order to encourage people to learn about bitcoin advantages and provide-cooperate with merchants to accept bitcoin payment as well.

Don't forget Bitcoin here representing a global currency and not a national currency with restricted borders. This makes the marketcap sound nothing as compared to some dominant fiat currencies. Hardly some hundred million people hold Bitcoin. That doesn't makes it a global currency. Marketcap need to touch at least a trillion dollar cap and user base needs to increase in some billions to make vendors and merchants actually accept Bitcoin as payment medium globally. This GDP comparison is irrelevant here.

I agree with that. that bitcoin and other crypto currencies are still confidently spreading around the planet, but the process of buying and using it is still rather complicated and confusing. While there is no developed infrastructure for servicing the crypto currency. It is especially difficult to work with the new coins just released during the ICO. The market of crypto currency is still developing and gaining momentum. Everything will come with time. So far, indeed, some information appears about the adoption of various measures to eliminate these inconveniences.

You are mistaken. I do not talk about GDP I talk how much each country has in FIAT...
So my point is that BTC is reaching for the top cap of FIAT... (not talking about the virtual $ that banks create, but for hard printed on paper FIAT...)