Latest posts of: iXMR

I posted this on reddit, but also wanted to share here. I learned about Blockcard from the Stellar Community Fund. https://medium.com/stellar-community/stellar-community-fund-2-the-results-69b3f6a6040e Stellar can become the next Ethereum, but I think part of building a protocol like XLM is to have strong projects in the ecosystem building on it too. This has been my experience over the last few months. I hope the Stellar community finds it valuable.

Blockcard is a crypto VISA card. The company supporting it is Ternio. You deposit crypto on Blockcard and then make purchases like any VISA card. I’ve been looking for a cheap off ramp for a while and was happy to find something built on Stellar. I’ve tried Bitpay, but wasn’t happy. I also tried to get some others, but they never came available for me.

What I like:

There is a clean UI and relatively easy enrollment process to get the card. You have to do KYC so everyone should know that before signing up. It’s also only for those who live in the US because (i think) it’s a US company.

Simple, but I like a company that can actually deliver a crypto card. Many companies just talk about it.
Ability to sync with Apple Pay is great. Haven’t seen this before.
Ternio team is transparent and active on social media.
6.38% Cash Back Rewards are great

I have a virtual Blockcard in my account, but I really only use the plastic one. I haven’t tried the cash to crypto option at Walmart yet, but supposedly that’s an option. I’ve purchased Gas, Mcdonalds, a few things of Amazon and Washington Post subscription. I tested the ATM withdrawal feature once for $100.

What I didn’t like:

All deposits on BlockCard are converted to TERN. Even if you deposit USDT it gets converted to TERN which means there is volatility in price and thus my spending power. I knew this when signing up and get why Ternio does it, but I think they should offer a USD option like AnchorUSD. I would prefer knowing that I have a fixed amount of money for spending then ride the TERN wave up and down.
Withdrawals are 24 hours, so if you’re looking to trade TERN it’s not ideal to put it on BlockCard. I personally move back and forth from BlockCard to Lobstr Wallet to trade on Stellar Term.

TERN Value?

https://stellar.expert/explorer/public/asset/TERN-GDGQDVO6XPFSY4NMX75A7AOVYCF5JYGW2SHCJJNWCQWIDGOZB53DGP6C

It took me a while to wrap my mind around this. TERN Total supply is 1 billion. People deposit cryptos to Blockcard and buy TERN, causing demand. They spend TERN and sell it back to the market, causing supply. Theoretically, more people buying TERN then selling TERN would create increased price per TERN. The value of TERN is really tied to the overall amount of users on Blockcard. Ideally along more users get on Blockcard, the value of TERN should rise. Staking TERN for rewards also removes TERN from the market.

Run your own numbers, but here is what I look at:

Card user: 10,000
Deposit: $100
Demand: $1,000,000
Spend: $80
Supply: $800,000
Staked Users: 20% of 10,000 = 2,000 Staked
Demand: ?

The last part I’m unsure about, but for those who speculate it’s a fun exercise.

Overall:

Blockcard is pretty good and I plan to keep using it. I also think it’s a great project for the Stellar protocol. The uncertainty of holding TERN is scary as it can be up or down. There are a few ways to mitigate it like not depositing until you’re ready to spend, but I think having a USD pegged coin like AnchorUSD would be a good option for people. The crypto rewards are great and I would recommend using them if you can.

If you found this post valuable let me know and I can create others. Also would be keen to hear others experience with Blockcard.