Bitcoin Forum

Hi i am studding the possibility on launching a global Mastercard crypto debit card, this card is going to be target to countries that don't have access to the popular crypto cards that are available in the US and Europe.

We wonder if anyone outside of the US or Europe would be interested in owning one?

Thanks

Considering that a debit card is the very definition of centralization and we bitcoiners believe in "not your keys, not your coins" I have never been interested in such things and will never be. It goes against all principles that created bitcoin.

Recent events like how VISA, MasterCard,... shut down their doors on millions of people should also prove to people how such things are bad and should be avoided.

From the adaptability perspective, a global crypto debit card will bring in convenience in the entire ecosystem. However, the crypto community is very conscious about KYC and similar things, so to launch a global scale crypto debit card, may not get much traction among the bitcoin puritans.

However, personally it will be a great convenience for me because everytime I want to use my bitcoins, I have to first convert it to fiat and then use it. So if there's is not KYC and the card is prepaid in nature, I would love to use one for my convenience.

There are several crypto debit cards that seem to have served customers all over the world, check out Ratimov's list (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5280997.0). But I don't know how many xustomers they have statistically. I just believe that these cards are more useful for users of exchanges or centralized wallets.

Even though my country is already in the reach of several crypto debit card services, I personally have no interest in using them.

They already exist, I say this from direct experience, I'll tell you about my adventure with Xapo several years ago, after registering and receiving the card for financial reasons they decide to disable the cards in Europe, this has changed so suddenly the ecosystem of that platform, from that day on I decided not to use cards anymore to spend my cryptocurrencies, just a smartphone and an internet connection you can go anywhere. Two Italians did an experiment in El Salvador, they went on vacation paying only in bitcoins to experience real use.

https://www.tgcom24.mediaset.it/economia/vivere-solo-con-i-bitcoin-due-italiani-in-el-salvador-senza-carte-ne-contanti_46026788-202202k.shtml

If you manage to create a KYC-free crypto card, you will attract the attention of people who wish to stay anonymous but have a way to cash out their cryptocurrencies. If the regions you want to hit don't support other services and cards, why do you think they will support your project? Maybe the problem is in the local banks and regulators who don't want anything to do with crypto. Economic uncertainty and lack of knowledge is difficult to overcome. Some banks reject every incoming transaction if they recognize it as originating from a crypto-related service. It's hard to change mentally handicapped minds.   

As someone has actually pointed out already, both Visa and Mastercard are already available for crypto use, both have been in use for many years on the internet, loads of projects have crypto-abled debit cards either on Visa or Mastercard. They both have one "principal partner" each who are crypto businesses (exchanges).

Problem though is that Visa and Mastercard are now in the midst of pulling out from Russia. And have not been in all parts of the world for many years. Iran's an example of another country deliberately excluded.

So how do you make a global Bitcoin debit card based on a network that doesn't exist globally? =)

Crypto cards are a very easy way to spend the coins at most merchants and as long as the fees are reasonable, there should be a market for the product.
But the regions not covered by the known crypto cards may also be sanctioned or have crypto illegal. One big area that comes into my mind is Nigeria, where crypto is now illegal.

On the other hand, if you manage to offer non-KYC crypto debit cards, you may have a very big market as long as your services are reliable and the fees not too high.


Global is a nice and catchy word, but I think that all OP wants is to find some suitable niche market/area where he can get profit from, no matter it may be only one continent.

Before embarking on such a project, you should understand the utility of crypto cards in those countries where it is available and the need for it in those where it is not. This would help determine if there is a market to sustain the project.

Crypto is not technically illegal in Nigeria; it is not a crime to hold or trade it, but banks are banned from mediating crypto transactions, so I can trade peer-to-peer, but I cannot directly fund an exchange account from my bank or withdraw directly to my bank account, such bank accounts would be sanctioned or possibly frozen.

I could guarantee that a good number of people would want one, but the problem in this case isn't the demand; it's mostly a regulations nightmare. While I don't have information to back up this claim, I think it's a safe assumption due to the number of crypto debit card companies that provides such services in certain non-US/EU countries, but pretty much slowly but surely disappeared.

If those countries haven't access to what you called 'popular crypto cards', so they won't have access to your card as well. The majority of countries around the world are not even regulated with FIAT international cards and some of them aren't also accessible to payment gates like Paypal.
What's your strategy for regulation dilemmas ?

Aren't there already many crypto debit/credit cards out there? Maybe you should focus on countries where those cards aren't available. But yeah, if it isn't available, then probably they didn't get the green light due to regulatory reasons, and you might face the same problem.
Try asking on local boards if they are interested or not. People will respond you better over there.

They're not too many. And competition never hurts. However, competing in US and EU seems not to be OP goal.
Also I remember I've seen African users complaining about the lack of coverage of crypto cards for them.


This is what OP also said he intends to do.


This is actually a good idea!
Also people over there may be more aware about legal status of cypto in their region, which can help, although OP will still have to find contacts and handle all the regional legal difficulties.

I would be happy to have one but I won't use it as my main wallet, just to ensure I have some alternatives cards to use whenever the others are not available. But I doubt that they will gonna approved such a project here because it's not been like the other country where the regulations are still convenient to them. Here, even the popular payment platform has not yet implemented cryptocurrencies to their platform. I don't know what's with them but I assume, it's also related to strict regulations imposed by our government.

See the example of Paypal supporting cryptocurrencies , even with too limited options , the experience haven't get that success to reach larger audiance. Still some regulations in unknown countries for me are convenient to lunch such a project however this won't get to a wide success.
Using a card with the actual conditions of how to legalize them according to all the jurisdictions in the world's countries to issue financial operations with cryptocurrencies is not that efficient and against the principles of blockchain .

Maybe it will work for other crypto/altcoins but not in Bitcoin due to the regulations which is more focused on centralization and most Bitcoiners enthusiast won't like it. This feels like a digital currency of fiat if it's done so there's no difference if we use debit card with fiat. I myself would want one too but there's a problem always when it comes to regulations since they government are more focused on centralization. And just like what they said you will struggle to find a demand of your project so better do more research before starting.

I completely agree with your point that this is against the principles of Bitcoin but then have you never used a crypto exchange.
Can't we treat this just like a crypto exchange where we deposit money only which we want for active trading and keep the rest in cold storage.
Similarly, we can fund the crypto card with an amount we want for active shopping and then still hold the rest in cold storage.
May be that's how we increase adoption. Just a thought.

It's cool to have it but not cool when you talk about its usage and service. You know why I think like that? It's because of the fees. I don't want to be charged unusual fees when I can still keep on using bitcoin for purchases that I have. I may be cool to own it and thanks but no thanks.
I don't want to be cool and then compensate for it through fees that I don't think justifiable for the service that they'll offer.

Hi thanks to all the people who reply my post, sorry i reply late i will answer to the most common questions

What i mean about global is countries that are not sanction by US, i hate the idea about sanctions but we have to comply or Uncle Sam would give me a big fine.

Fees are going to be around 2 - 3 % to top up

About regulations we found a way to issue a card for these countries Fincen and Fac told us is valid and legal

I found a post with a list of cards but all this cards are idler for the US or for Europe the only truthy global is Advcash but their Visa card is right now close for orders

i will keep update this post when we launch the card

When you have multi billion dollar international banks that have given up on doing full global cards and actually issue them by regional subsidiaries I really can't see it being done that easily. Coinbase does not do it themselves here in the US the card is issued through metabank with the back end done by marqeta. BitPay uses Metropolitan commercial bank, Fold uses Sutton bank, and so on. You will need some larger financial institution with serious backing if you want to issue cards.


-Dave

I think there are already lots of companies that offers cryptocurrency debit cards such as MasterCard and Visa to so many countries around the world. But it is still not a bad idea, because if you believe that you can start up such a company and be able to offer good services to people, then you should also go ahead and do it.

I know about so many companies that are offering cryptocurrency debit cards, to countries such as Australia, Nigeria, Germany, India, Canada, and so many other countries around the world. But before you go ahead to choose countries to offer your services, and or maybe you think that there is a country where this card services are not functioning, I think you should first look into how much these people really need these debit cards. You should check whether there is a demand for it, and if there is, then you can start with that country and start offering services to them. Maybe if in your country there is no cryptocurrency debit cards that are available, you can start with your country if there is a demand for it.