Bitcoin Forum

http://cointelegraph.com/news/112065/anx-issues-worlds-first-bitcoin-debit-card

Innovation will be the determining factor in who leads the Bitcoin industry for the next several generations and industry leaders will be determined by how well they adjust to the market and how well they innovate. One of the largest problems that Bitcoin has is that since Bitcoin itself is not widely accepted anyone who wants to use it has to exchange for fiat currencies. ANX has however basically eliminated this problem with its first-of-its-kind Bitcoin debit card that allows users to use Bitcoins within the traditional credit card payment system.

Is it really the first?

I remember seeing Bitcoin debit cards being sold both here and on eBay a while ago.

Maybe this is like the first "official" one.

Some of the features:

Where can we buy these things and do they ship worldwide. Does it credit you with the balance when you top up the card or what the coins are worth on the actual day when you go to spend them? Surely it's the former as opposed to the latter?

Would this really count as the World's first
Cavirtex
Vault of Satoshi
Xapos

Yep someone in the comments even mentioned it
Xapo and the one that came before it, BitPlastic.

Someone messed up here.

I read that that bitplastic was a scam though? Can anyone confirm this. Whether it's the first or not is irrelevant, though. These things are still good for adoption.

I also think they messed up. Xapo seems to be first.

Might be the first debit card, that supports bitcoin and fiat currency? But to claim to be the first to market with this, is wrong.

This is also supported by the people commenting on the article.

Are they marketing it as the worlds first or is that something cointelegraph have added on? I don't think whether it is or isnt is a big deal though. Sounds like a good idea and I hope it takes off. Would be cool to have one and be able to top it up every now and again when you need it.

debit cards are what people are accustomed to, these could be a great transition for people who are apprehensive to transitioning to BTC, one they can start using it like a card, they will realize its just like any other form of payment!

bitplastic is (was?) obviously a scam. anx is a hong kong based exchange with miniscule volume and huge spread as a result (like $648/$615 as of now). even if they don't charge any other fee, owner of debit card will lose ~5% just on a spread. xapo is not disclosing the details of the btc -> fiat conversion at all.

so far, it seems that the best option is still to control btc -> fiat conversion manually, e.g. to have regular debit card linked to checking account and to refill that account from high-volume/low-spread exchange (bitstamp or btce where spread is less than $0.6/0.1%).

it seems like solid exchange is currently a necessary foundation for many services that can be built on top. which either creates unnecessary dependency on the "exchange of choice" or forces companies to deal with issues that are not their core business. it seems we need a service layer on top of exchanges that would allow companies whose core business is not exchange to use that layer to perform low-spread btc <--> fiat conversion without bothering to even know which particular exchange was used to perform a conversion "behind the scene".

The more the merrier in my opinion. Xapo can be the Visa and these guys can be the Mastercard as it doesn't really make a difference as long as more options along these lines make it an easier transition for the regulars to come aboard the crypto world. Then, when discounts for using Bitcoin become more regular down the line, no one will want to use that old shit anymore.

http://www.coindesk.com/exchange-anx-launch-reloadable-bitcoin-debit-cards/

ANX customers load their cards from bitcoin balances (effectively selling bitcoins to ANX) or from any of the 10 international currencies the firm currently supports. The stored currency on the cards, however, is always US dollars.


i hope there will be some better solutions in the future because this is silly...

Hi, ANXPRO (http://bit.ly/anxprobyt) here. We are the world's first to start shipping, and we already have the cards in hand and are preparing for shipping right now. The first batch will be shipped within this week.

Can you explain us what network your card uses exactly? Does it use a magnetic strip or chip? How do I know it where it will be accepted without problems?

It is a VISA debit card, and you can use it anywhere that accepts visa, including supermarkets, restaurants, ATMs, etc.

Awesome...between these guys and Xapo soon we bitcoiners will have all kinds of Bitcoin Debit card options.  I find it a bit curious that there is no mention of the over and under charged for use of this card within the article though.