Some of you guys had asked me how to get a Bitcoin debit card, so here goes:
First of all,
A Bitcoin Debit Card is the same as your Bank Debit Card, except that the balance in the Bitcoin Debit card can be loaded with BTC using a service like the one I am about to explain.
This is completely safe and legal, and you will be getting a Visa or Master Card Debit Card from these providers, that you can use for shopping in any store all across India. The balance can be loaded using the web application by converting BTC to USD.
Note that there are several such service providers internationally, but this is the only one that ships to India.
This is the service that I am going to explain:
https://www.wagecan.com/
1. First create an account on WageCan, and while creating an account make sure you enter your exact name as per Passport or any other Gov' ID Proof. And they will immediately verify your phone number with OTP. These details cannot be changed once entered and submitted, so double check them before submitting.
2. Next step is to upload documents to verify your account.
Why verify? Any exchange or financial service operator must comply with KYC norms;
So they will ask you to submit ID proof (Passport), Address Proof (Bank/phone bill) along with a Selfie of the ID proof in your hand and your face clearly visible.
Once you complete these simple steps, they will take around 2-3 days to verify, and once verified all the order options will be visible and you can order your debit card.
3. There are 2 options -
USD debit card and EUR debit card (Your preference). I went for the USD card.
When I ordered my card, they were giving out free invites so I had a fee waiver on the card and shipping fees, but at this point they are well established hence they charge around 0.1 BTC for delivering your Debit Card via DHL (Perfectly fair fee, for the world of opportunities they provide)
4. Once shipped the card reached me in 8-9 days and then you have to activate it through the website by logging in and entering the 3-digit code from the back of the card; and also set a
PIN code for purchasing and withdrawing money through the card.
5. Once you have activated the card and set the PIN, the next step is to recharge the card with BTC and then use the BTC balance for your shopping and other expenses.
How to recharge? The WageCan website will provide you with a BTC address and you can simply send your BTC to that address and the balance will reflect on the card.
Now they have some interesting offers here, if you recharge with more than 2 BTC the first time, you can get extra 0.2 BTC as bonus. And for even larger recharges they have bigger bonuses.
That is pretty much it, once recharged you can use the balance for your groceries, fuel, and even shopping on any international website such as Amazon.com (International sites generally do not accept Indian cards but since this is a USD card, everything goes through smoothly.) I can verify that I have used this in Reliance marts, couple of restaurants, in malls and airport lounges all over India.
Card Usage Charges:WageCan charges around 1% for each ATM withdrawals and about $1 for each time you swipe at a Point-of-sale establishment (grocery/fuel/etc)
My opinion is that these are very reasonable charges.
The card limit is upto $50,000 and you can use upto $3000 in a single transaction. These are the card bank charges. On top of these there is 1% conversion from USD to INR incase you spend in Rupees.
My experience is that these charges are random yet minor; Once my expenses Delhi airport, there were no extra charges at all.
ATM Withdrawals: ATM Withdrawals seems to not work in Indian ATMs at the moment, but I spoke with the WageCan team and they said they will resolve this very soon; As India is not a financial super power counttry, our ATMs are not the latest ones and hence they have to include additional features and tie up with special banks like CitiBank to offer this service. (this is what I was told )
Apart from using this card to convert BTC to your daily expenses eaily, it is a huge boon when travelling International. Most Indian Debit Cards and even Credit Cards get rejected abroad but this card always works and I was able to withdraw money from and ATM in USA, Spain and Dubai without any problem.
WageCan Support:They were really fast in respondng to my questions and also offered to call me back couple of times to clarify things. Excellent service.
