EagleCash economics? (bitcoin exchange?)

[marcus_of_augustus]

Anybody have any knowledge of the size of the EagleCash economy?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Cash

To date, 3.2 million EagleCash and EZpay cards have been issued and used to process 16.5 million electronic transactions valued at over $3.6 billion."

A stored value card system with this kind of audience I'm surprised there isn't a well-known bitcoin-EagleCash exchange mechanism (at least I have never heard anything about it).

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[DeathAndTaxes]

It is a private payment system only used by the US military and only accepted by approved military contractors.   If it is anything like any other military programs the application process is probably 50 to 100 pages, must demonstrate it fulfills the needs of the military, require operators to have security clearance, etc.  The process alone probably costs in the tens of thousands of dollars and you might (assuming all key personnel already have security clearances) get a final decision in 6-18 months.

I think it is more likely VISA issues a Bitcoin backed credit card than you see bitcoin exchanges even having the ability to accept Eagle Cash payments.

BTW it works pretty well the last 3 months I was in Iraq they were rolling it out.  Works pretty much like cash protected by a PIN.  You lose it, it is lost.  If the chip gets damaged you can get a refund.  All your funds aren't at risk because you can reload the card from your bank account (or advance on next paycheck IIRC) using a terminal (so nobody had $80,000 sitting on an Eagle Cash card).  You can only spend it at approved merchants.  There is no p2p capability (i.e. no sending $5 from your card to a buddy because you owe him).  "real cash" was still popular because you could use it with locals and for playing poker.

[kangasbros]

"Transporting US currency overseas costs the military hundreds of thousands of dollars annually — during the Iraq War, for every $1,000,000 sent to pay soldiers in Iraq, it cost $60,000 in security, logistics, and support fees."

After reading that wikipedia article it becomes apparent that militaries should use Bitcoin to save money on cash transfers

[Elwar]

I would be interested in a bitcoin -> EagleCash card if it were ever to be possible.