bitinstant paycard

[opticbit]

Sign me up for the first 1000 freebie.

I'll use it every where I go, unless I can talk them into a direct bitcoin payment.

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[Jouke]

Will I be able to buy the paycard itself with bitcoins?

[cbeast]

So, once everyone has the cards, no-one will ever need to use them again. 

Maybe some bankers can actually read the writing on the wall and will not go extinct.

[Piper67]

So, once everyone has the cards, no-one will ever need to use them again. 

Maybe some bankers can actually read the writing on the wall and will not go extinct.

Only a matter of time until a bank, likely a Swiss one, allows you to have an account in BTC 

[Bitcoin Oz]

Im scared if I leave this in the house the wife will spend my coins 

[aghori]

Pre-ordered!

[Rassah]

Kinda sucks that the wait is still up to ten minutes. Otherwise I would use this card while empty, on purpose, then say excuse me and load it up from my phone's Bitcoin waller right in front of them. Seeing charging a card up so quickly from a phone, directly to the card (scanning the QR code on it) will be a sufficiently unusual thing for them to start asking questions about. Maybe I'll just do that at 2pm after the lunch rush is over and they are empty.

[stevegee58]

I'm guessing a SSN/Tax ID is going to be required for AML/PATRIOT ACT bullshit.

Absolutely.  The gubment isn't gonna let anyone do electronic transactions in USD without the mark on their forehead.

[RodeoX]

I'm guessing a SSN/Tax ID is going to be required for AML/PATRIOT ACT bullshit.

Absolutely.  The gubment isn't gonna let anyone do electronic transactions in USD without the mark on their forehead.

Then I guess my new name for the card is "Mark Forehead." 

[John (John K.)]

Signed myself up too. 

[Technomage]

This card is MEGA awesomeness. It's the ticket to mainstream Bitcoin use. Once this card becomes common among Bitcoin users (and it will), merchants will look at accepting Bitcoin directly with much more interest. Money talks and it will be cheaper for everyone to accept Bitcoin directly.

I just hope that this is true. That they can do it with the fees they propose. If they can, this is the biggest thing since Silk Road.

[jbreher]

This has vast potential for raising awareness amongst the masses.

[Jan]

Signed myself up too. 

+1

[cbeast]

This card is MEGA awesomeness. It's the ticket to mainstream Bitcoin use. Once this card becomes common among Bitcoin users (and it will), merchants will look at accepting Bitcoin directly with much more interest. Money talks and it will be cheaper for everyone to accept Bitcoin directly.

Every new thing helps, but this won't lead to high adoption except to teach them about the advantage of a highly liquid, deflationary, and fungible international currency. This will be the must have item for jetsetters. Oh, and I still would like an unbranded brainwallet version.

[Elwar]

I am salivating right now. This goes beyond just helping to get bitcoins out there. It is a very useful card as well.

The way I see it is this. Right now I have a weekly budget. I have my direct deposit go into one account, then it moves a week's worth of spending money to another checking account. My wife and I use the spending card for our day to day spending while the main account is used for bills.

Now, with this, I set up a Dwolla instant transfer every day I get paid. It goes to MtGox and gets converted to BTC. I then set up a weekly transfer to my BitInstant card for my weekly spending budget.

One question I have is...can I use this card to pay for bills online? Many of my bills accept a debit card for automatic payments.

If I could get all of my bills paid with this I could have all of my money converted to Bitcoins through my direct deposit of my paycheck. The only reason to have a bank account would be to send my direct deposit from work to Dwolla.

[BoardGameCoin]

can I use this card to pay for bills online? Many of my bills accept a debit card for automatic payments.

+1 on this question

Yankee?

[Yankee (BitInstant)]

can I use this card to pay for bills online? Many of my bills accept a debit card for automatic payments.

+1 on this question

Yankee?

Of course, not even a doubt.

Anything your Visa/MS card can do, this can do. Its a regular debit card. Can do PIN and Signature transactions.

[Timbo925]

Watching this way because the watch thing doesn't seem to work.
Also put my name on the list for one of these

-Timbo925

[Stephen Gornick]

Anything your Visa/MS card can do, this can do. Its a regular debit card. Can do PIN and Signature transactions.

Will I be able to do a direct deposit of USDs to the card?  (Update: If not, since BitInstant already takes Dwolla I could use that to buy bitcoins and load them instead.)

I gotta think, who needs a bank account after this?  Store your wealth in bitcoins, spend in dollars using this card until bitcoins can be used for making payment at the point of sale. and until bitcoins are accepted by more of ecommerce merchants.

While prepaid debit cards loaded with bitcoins has been something we've been able to do for a while, this is the least expensive method (1.5% of funds loaded) versus the others.  And at the same time it is a very convenient method.

The Bitcoin ecosystem is making progress at disintermediating banks.  This will benefit today's "unbanked" and it will be an enabler for those who are voluntarily considering going without a bank account.

This reminds me of Peter Schiff (Euro Pacific International Bank)'s gold-denominated Mastercard debit card.  It works the same way, you can convert some of your gold holdings into USDs or EURs and minutes later user those funds for spending with a swipe of the card.
 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDi7FLcH7iY#t=330s

The difference though is that Schiff couldn't offer that to U.S. customers as the account is held offshore.   With BitInstant's paycard, that's not where I'm storing my bitcoins except what I have there for spending that I plan to make.  If I have an unexpected need for spending, I can load the BTC account for the card with more bitcoins at no charge and in minutes.  Bitcoin is becoming a better offshore bank than anything offered anywhere else.

[Yankee (BitInstant)]

Bitcoin is becoming a better offshore bank than anything offered anywhere else.

The offshore bank in your pocket!

Seriously though, your points are what the ultimate goal of Bitcoin for people to realize its awesome utility as a payment infrastructure.

This author says it the best:
   

The underlying cause to much of the volatility that the BitCoin market experiences is the relatively small amount of value that it captures. Whilst as a whole the BitCoin market is valued at some $97 million (total number of BitCoins in existence multiplied by current price) the total transaction volume on any given day usually only averages $80,000. That’s incredibly open to manipulation and showcases just how crazy those peak trading days, the ones where the value changing hands is on the order of 3 times the average, really are.

Now I don’t pretend to have a solution to this but a new startup called BitInstant might have the right idea when it comes to injecting more value into the market and hence (hopefully) reducing its volatility.

-Charlie