Best debit cards to spend BTC

[rexxarofmoknathal]

Some exchange called CoinZoom recently released a debit card.

https://www.coinzoom.com/cards/

Not promoting it or even saying you should get it, but it does have some interesting features, like 5% cashback rewards (in their token) and I think 12% APR on deposits.

That said, CoinZoom looks like a relatively new platform, so best to do some digging to see if it's trustworthy.

[anubizz]

Any reviews on this one?:
https://alphacard.me/

Not sure about it. Could be a scam too! I have no personal experience with it!

[OmegaStarScream]

Any reviews on this one?:
https://alphacard.me/

Not sure about it. Could be a scam too! I have no personal experience with it!

Yes, it's a scam: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5230341.0

Localcoin is the only service that offers annonymous cards, but it's only available for Canadians.

[TryNinja]

A bit off topic but why people don't sell their BTC and use their own debit cards instead of using a crypto funded one? In the end it's the same thing but with less fees. The company behind the card has to sell your BTCs to pay the merchant with fiat. What's the advantage?

[LeGaulois]

A bit off topic but why people don't sell their BTC and use their own debit cards instead of using a crypto funded one? In the end it's the same thing but with less fees. The company behind the card has to sell your BTCs to pay the merchant with fiat. What's the advantage?

- Underbanked or unbanked people and there are millions, in the US it represents ~25%of the population and there are 2 billion worldwide
- Some banks are not very friendly with funds coming from exchanges
- Taxes evasion
- Privacy

It's the usual reasons and yes it costs a bit higher but it's not a problem for most people

[gentlemand]

A bit off topic but why people don't sell their BTC and use their own debit cards instead of using a crypto funded one? In the end it's the same thing but with less fees. The company behind the card has to sell your BTCs to pay the merchant with fiat. What's the advantage?

A lot of people are paranoid about their bank getting funny with them and that's a valid worry depending on where you are.

I've seen others reckon it magically shielded them from the tax man. Erm, nope.

I remember when the Wavecrest cards got stopped and from the outrage it seems like for a lot of people it was their one and only option. Maybe there's less banking out there than we think.

[TryNinja]

- Underbanked or unbanked people and there are millions, in the US it represents ~25% and 2 billion worldwide

I obviously can't know, but I would normally think isn't the case for OP or most crypto-card users. I may be completly wrong, tho.

- Some banks are not very friendly with funds coming from exchanges

In the end, you are still using Mastercard/Visa/some smaller card processor, which usually are not very crypto-friendly as well. Remember Wavecrest?

- Privacy

Don't most services ask for KYC? And they answer to governments and card processors.

Just being a little devil's advocate here, btw. I personally prefer to get miles with my card and save on fees at the same time. But that's just my reality and I know that some people may get more advantages with crypto-cards (which is why I asked).

[adzino]

A bit off topic but why people don't sell their BTC and use their own debit cards instead of using a crypto funded one? In the end it's the same thing but with less fees. The company behind the card has to sell your BTCs to pay the merchant with fiat. What's the advantage?

- Underbanked or unbanked people and there are millions, in the US it represents ~25%of the population and there are 2 billion worldwide
- Some banks are not very friendly with funds coming from exchanges
- Taxes evasion
- Privacy

It's the usual reasons and yes it costs a bit higher but it's not a problem for most people

You sure people use bitcoin based cards for tax evasions and stuffs? Well, if they do, then they are dumb and stupid to be honest. Firstly, most of the bitcoin card providers will ask you to provide with your personal information. Why do you think they do that? Because they have to due to Anti Money Laundering laws or else they won't be able to serve their customers. At least you have to go through KYC in US based companies.
There you go, no privacy either.

[gentlemand]

You sure people use bitcoin based cards for tax evasions and stuffs? Well, if they do, then they are dumb and stupid to be honest.

There is the occasional card that still pops up and claims to be anonymous but more than likely they're scams. Even if they're not scams it's only a matter of time before Visa found them and squashed them.

[Welsh]

A lot of people are paranoid about their bank getting funny with them and that's a valid worry depending on where you are.

I've seen others reckon it magically shielded them from the tax man. Erm, nope.

I remember when the Wavecrest cards got stopped and from the outrage it seems like for a lot of people it was their one and only option. Maybe there's less banking out there than we think.

Despite my recent criticisms of a well known bank within the United Kingdom I still think most banks don't have a problem with Bitcoin itself, but the high potential of scams, and shady business practices that operate within the cryptocurrency space. For example, every day we get a new altcoin/ICO scam. So, I can understand banks being rather reluctant to sort of trust their customers to make good judgement calls, because if they don't follow the protocols then they'll probably find themselves in deep water if too many people complain. Its a double whammy, but cryptocurrencies are a highly risky business depending on where you're sourcing them from.

[LeGaulois]

A bit off topic but why people don't sell their BTC and use their own debit cards instead of using a crypto funded one? In the end it's the same thing but with less fees. The company behind the card has to sell your BTCs to pay the merchant with fiat. What's the advantage?

- Underbanked or unbanked people and there are millions, in the US it represents ~25%of the population and there are 2 billion worldwide
- Some banks are not very friendly with funds coming from exchanges
- Taxes evasion
- Privacy

It's the usual reasons and yes it costs a bit higher but it's not a problem for most people

You sure people use bitcoin based cards for tax evasions and stuffs? Well, if they do, then they are dumb and stupid to be honest. Firstly, most of the bitcoin card providers will ask you to provide with your personal information. Why do you think they do that? Because they have to due to Anti Money Laundering laws or else they won't be able to serve their customers. At least you have to go through KYC in US based companies.
There you go, no privacy either.

Yes, I'm sure.

You're mixing 2 different things: tax evasion and money laundering.
True the Bitcoin card providers have the KYC verification in place but do you think it's to fight the tax evasion? They do not care and don't have to snitch their users. Do you think they exchange their information with every tax department? Nope.

Privacy, here you're mixing with another point.
When I mentioned privacy, it's about privacy with your bank. You may not want your bank to know what you're doing. Either because you don't want them to know you have an extra income (an exotic income I should add, knowing a lot of banks aren't crypto-friendly as I mentioned earlier), or because you have a loan for your house, or because you're in a negative balance, and so many things.

[gentlemand]

You're mixing 2 different things: tax evasion and money laundering.
True the Bitcoin card providers have the KYC verification in place but do you think it's to fight the tax evasion? They do not care and don't have to snitch their users. Do you think they exchange their information with every tax department? Nope.

It's only a matter of time before any above ground service will get a request from the tax man if they haven't already. It's not a great deal of work, they can't refuse and it might snare them plenty of tax. Anyone who believes otherwise is a fool.

A debit card provider is fully plugged in to the existing system and will have to bow to it whenever ordered.