No.  Though my account was recently re-registered after a long period of inactivity, I was one of the first people on here calling Bitinstant out on their BS.  Even in the face of their denials, I persisted.  They sat there and claimed for months that problems were limited to specific transactions etc., until one day the dam broke and they just vanished.  Their CEO, of course, wound up in federal prison.  Allowing things like this to go on, where the writing is on the wall and there is clearly some lying/serious spinning happening is never a good thing, and calling attention to it now may save some people money and/or frustration.  I'm not saying Bitpay is a scam like Bitinstant became, but I am saying that in this case they are lying about the reason for shutting down ATM withdrawals, and the deafening silence from them on the issue all but confirms it.  History has shown that keeping money with an organization that is comfortable with lying to your face isn't the best idea.

By the way, Bitpay undoubtedly has reps that check this forum frequently.  They are welcome to chime in here and say that I'm wrong, anytime.  I'd be extremely happy to hear that I am way off base, along with an ETA, as I want the ATM functionality back as badly as any of their other customers.  The fact that they haven't, again, is concerning.

Given that ATM transactions were all I ever used it for, the card is a worthless piece of plastic to me now, and I suspect the same is true for the vast majority of their other customers.  Anyway, it's pretty clear that ATM functionality (and thus the Bitpay card, at least for me) is gone for good.  "System upgrades" are never started at financial institutions without some sort of clearly defined timeline that is communicated to customers.  It's pretty clear that they are probably scrambling behind the scenes to get signed up with some other bank, but that's unlikely to happen.  Personally, I'm betting that the Visa functionality can't be far behind the ATM functionality.  The banks they work with either like Bitpay or they don't, regardless of the specific manner in which the money comes out of the account.

As an interesting aside, they have now posted this notice when you try to order a new card.  Given that it takes a few weeks to actually get the card, this is an odd message to be putting up if they planned on having ATM functionality back up anytime soon:



You can see it yourself by going here.

I outlined the facts in my post, and titled it “possibly permanently”.  I think the most reasonable conclusion is that ATM functionality is gone for good.  Since Visa functionality is unaffected, perhaps it is the ATM networks that shut them down.  Until yesterday, the card worked on the Plus, Nyce, and Interlink ATM networks.  That would be a logical explanation as to why ATM functionality is gone but Visa functionality is up.

The issue with the claim of a system upgrade is the deafening silence.  When posed a direct question regarding whether or not ATM functionality would ever return, they simply refused to respond.  If it were a system upgrade, they’d say “oh yes, it will be back up, our engineers are working on it right now”.  This is less reading the tea leaves, and more watching the moving trucks roll into town to take it away.

The Bitpay card has been great for the 1 month or so that I have actually gotten to use it.  Unfortunately, effective March 8, they shutdown ATM withdrawals.  They claim that this is part of a “system upgrade”.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t hold water because they have no ETA.  I called customer service asking if it would be days, weeks, months, or years, and they told me they simply don’t know.  I then tweeted asking the same to their normally very active Twitter customer service, and got zero response.

So everyone can reasonably assume that Bitpay card ATM withdrawals are gone for good, and act accordingly.  My guess is that their card issuing bank kicked them off the network, and they are scrambling to find a replacement bank, which is unlikely given the stance of US banks on Bitcoin.  I hate that they are lying and calling it a system upgrade though.  It shows that things are not in great shape over there.  I wouldn’t leave any money on their card if you have it on there.  You can still use the Visa part for purchases, or transfer from the card to your bank.  Definitely get the money out of their hands - their house of cards appears to be crumbling.