2017 Bitcoin Debit Card Reviews

[revelacaogr]

MasterCard Now Allows Clients to Pay via the Blockchain

https://themerkle.com/mastercard-now-allows-clients-to-pay-via-the-blockchain/

The last couple of years have brought numerous advancements in the development of blockchain technology. While it’s bound to revolutionize several markets, only a few big companies have started offering blockchain-based services so far. Leading payment processor MasterCard is now joining the race.

So far, reports have indicated that MasterCard is still researching suitable ways of deploying blockchain technology to the masses. Last Friday, the company announced that it’ll be offering blockchain technology to a couple of merchants and banks to serve as a more efficient method of paying for products and services....

[iiiiinspiration]

Very useful information. It is a pity that in my country there is no bitcoin cards yet 

[ultraBTC]

Woohoo...looks like I finally found a solution for us Non Eu residents. https://uquid.com/blog/2017/09/new-uquid-debit-card

Uquid seems to have found a different supplier besides wave crest

According to the blog post, the new system should have taken place at least week ago.

"- The option replacement or order new uquid debit card * will be available in your uquid account as soon as our new card system finish integrate (estimate time for first order: 10/10 to 20/10/2017)"

However, there are no confirmations neither any news about this. This option is still not available for  Uquid users. Not looking good as it seems there are no options for non-Europen countries at this time.

[Zandorek]

Woohoo...looks like I finally found a solution for us Non Eu residents. https://uquid.com/blog/2017/09/new-uquid-debit-card

Uquid seems to have found a different supplier besides wave crest

According to the blog post, the new system should have taken place at least week ago.

"- The option replacement or order new uquid debit card * will be available in your uquid account as soon as our new card system finish integrate (estimate time for first order: 10/10 to 20/10/2017)"

However, there are no confirmations neither any news about this. This option is still not available for  Uquid users. Not looking good as it seems there are no options for non-Europen countries at this time.

Maybe they are in a delay...

[zahra4571]

Dealt with xapo, wirexapp, cryptopay all good services but didn't find a solution yet for non EU residents.

So far only found wagecan gold card works which cost ~170$$

Any fresh experience about wagecan would be appreciated

[ultraBTC]

Dealt with xapo, wirexapp, cryptopay all good services but didn't find a solution yet for non EU residents.

So far only found wagecan gold card works which cost ~170$$

Any fresh experience about wagecan would be appreciated

There are few alternatives at the moment, but either still integrating the new system (such as Uquid) or totally unresponsive. I will reconsider the Wagecan option if things will not move forward in the positive direction.

[Grim]

Max lifetime load: 1000

 

That is amazing! (NOT)

[aigeezer]

Dealt with xapo, wirexapp, cryptopay all good services but didn't find a solution yet for non EU residents.

So far only found wagecan gold card works which cost ~170$$

Any fresh experience about wagecan would be appreciated

Wagecan sends the card by DHL, which helps explain the high price. They offer no cheaper snail-mail delivery option though. While the card arrives quickly enough, Wagecan seems to take a VERY long time (many days!) to load it. This is quite a shock if you're used to the Wavecrest model (now unavailable outside Europe) of real-time card loading.

Another Hong Kong-based provider is anxpro.com - they seem to take a very long time to authorize/validate new customers, much longer than the "2 working days" mentioned on their site.

The whole debit card industry is in disarray since the Wavecrest rule-change. I assume it is not coincidence, but it's hard to know what is going on.

[zinodaur]

Does Wirex not have any foreign exchange fees anymore?

[huangzhong]

no bitcoin visa/debit card available for Canadian at this moment.

[Retired]

That first post REALLY needs some updating.

What's the consensus on the best card for european residents? I use a virtual card from Cryptopay but I hate the fact that the difference in BTC price is like 200 euros. Plus if I use the EUR card with some other currency, I get taxed for that too. Is that really the standard or am I getting ripped off?

Each company has its own BTC price so you need to check it.

The second part is even true with your normal bank card: transactions on different currencies than the card one will levy a fee.

[NeuroticFish]

Does Wirex not have any foreign exchange fees anymore?

They say that there's no exchange fee now, but they also tell that the conversions are done at "wholesale rate" https://help.wirexapp.com/hc/en-us/articles/207870335-Wirex-fees
What I can tell from my experience is that the conversion in my case (EUR->RON) is done at a rate some 2.2% worse than my old bank's rate. From what I remember, before they had a 3% conversion fee, but I don't know what rate did they use. However, it's a step forward.

[zinodaur]

Does Wirex not have any foreign exchange fees anymore?

They say that there's no exchange fee now, but they also tell that the conversions are done at "wholesale rate" https://help.wirexapp.com/hc/en-us/articles/207870335-Wirex-fees
What I can tell from my experience is that the conversion in my case (EUR->RON) is done at a rate some 2.2% worse than my old bank's rate. From what I remember, before they had a 3% conversion fee, but I don't know what rate did they use. However, it's a step forward.

Well in that case I'm gonna keep using Cryptopay. 2.2% combined with the awful Bitcoin exchange rate is a lot of money.

[maeusi]

Are there any news on uquid card service? They offered two kinds of cards. One of them wasn't connected to Visa/Mastercard. But they disabled both cards, so that fundings are senseless. They wanted to enable again in October, but didn't see anything yet.

[ROT13]

It appears Spectrocoin have a new provider, can anyone confirm this is available to non EU residents affected by the wavecrest situation?

https://blog.spectrocoin.com/en/2017/10/new-spectrocoin-prepaid-bitcoin-debit-cards/

[gabbello]

Does Wirex not have any foreign exchange fees anymore?

They say that there's no exchange fee now, but they also tell that the conversions are done at "wholesale rate" https://help.wirexapp.com/hc/en-us/articles/207870335-Wirex-fees
What I can tell from my experience is that the conversion in my case (EUR->RON) is done at a rate some 2.2% worse than my old bank's rate. From what I remember, before they had a 3% conversion fee, but I don't know what rate did they use. However, it's a step forward.

Does Wirex cards have chips and/or contactless? What about Bitstamp debit cards?

[Cryptoupp]

Hi,

Thinking to get a debit card to pay with bitcoins. I am completely new to this debit card world, so no idea how it works all together.
I live in the UK, so... what I read on this threat is that European countries have debit cards abaiable. Now.. the question is which one is more reliable and the fees are less.

When do you need to pay fees?
- When you deposit btc to your debit card?

or/and..

- When are you using the debit card to pay?


How do they calculate the exchange rate to pass from BTC to fiat? because if you have btc on your account and every time you pay with your debit card I believe they will need to exchange the BTC each time...

Thanks!

[NeuroticFish]

Well in that case I'm gonna keep using Cryptopay. 2.2% combined with the awful Bitcoin exchange rate is a lot of money.

I think that in a way or another they all have bad rates and fees. At least Wirex was accepted everywhere I needed until now.
On another hand, I expect you share the Cryptopay experience with us, since if it's indeed better, they'll earn more users.
And I expect that more the users, lower the fees are going to be sooner or later.

Does Wirex cards have chips and/or contactless? What about Bitstamp debit cards?

They are advertising for some 2 months already that contactless cards will be available soon. But afaik they are not there yet.
My card does have chip though - I didn't know that cards without chip are still being made in 2017.

Hi,

Thinking to get a debit card to pay with bitcoins. I am completely new to this debit card world, so no idea how it works all together.
I live in the UK, so... what I read on this threat is that European countries have debit cards abaiable. Now.. the question is which one is more reliable and the fees are less.

When do you need to pay fees?
- When you deposit btc to your debit card?

or/and..

- When are you using the debit card to pay?


How do they calculate the exchange rate to pass from BTC to fiat? because if you have btc on your account and every time you pay with your debit card I believe they will need to exchange the BTC each time...

Thanks!

The fees are debatable as you can see. We don't know yet which is better.
Some have more expensive card issue, some have bigger fees, some are late sending the cards or validate documents.
On my Wirex card I paid a fee to have the card. Then I pay 1 EUR every month I have money on the card. And I pay a fee when I convert from BTC to EUR and, although there's no fee at converting from EUR to my country's RON, the exchange rate is far from great, meaning that I somehow pay when I use the debit card too.
So, shorty, on each step

The VISA card holds EUR, not BTC. You convert when you want to have money at hand to spend. It's not converted automatically from BTC when you want to use the card in the shop.

[Cryptoupp]

Well in that case I'm gonna keep using Cryptopay. 2.2% combined with the awful Bitcoin exchange rate is a lot of money.

I think that in a way or another they all have bad rates and fees. At least Wirex was accepted everywhere I needed until now.
On another hand, I expect you share the Cryptopay experience with us, since if it's indeed better, they'll earn more users.
And I expect that more the users, lower the fees are going to be sooner or later.

Does Wirex cards have chips and/or contactless? What about Bitstamp debit cards?

They are advertising for some 2 months already that contactless cards will be available soon. But afaik they are not there yet.
My card does have chip though - I didn't know that cards without chip are still being made in 2017.

Hi,

Thinking to get a debit card to pay with bitcoins. I am completely new to this debit card world, so no idea how it works all together.
I live in the UK, so... what I read on this threat is that European countries have debit cards abaiable. Now.. the question is which one is more reliable and the fees are less.

When do you need to pay fees?
- When you deposit btc to your debit card?

or/and..

- When are you using the debit card to pay?


How do they calculate the exchange rate to pass from BTC to fiat? because if you have btc on your account and every time you pay with your debit card I believe they will need to exchange the BTC each time...

Thanks!

The fees are debatable as you can see. We don't know yet which is better.
Some have more expensive card issue, some have bigger fees, some are late sending the cards or validate documents.
On my Wirex card I paid a fee to have the card. Then I pay 1 EUR every month I have money on the card. And I pay a fee when I convert from BTC to EUR and, although there's no fee at converting from EUR to my country's RON, the exchange rate is far from great, meaning that I somehow pay when I use the debit card too.
So, shorty, on each step

The VISA card holds EUR, not BTC. You convert when you want to have money at hand to spend. It's not converted automatically from BTC when you want to use the card in the shop.

Thanks for your reply.

I have just check Cryptopay card. I would like to compare the data with Wirex for example, as it's one of the more popular cards out there. I will be more than happy if you can share the same info about your Wirex experience:


- Issue debit card:   £15 (include shipment)
- Monthly card maintenance: 1€/£1
- Deposit: 1% (fee deposit) + 1% (currency exchange) = 2% TOTAL
- ATM transaction (national): 2.25€ / £1.75
- ATM transaction (international): 2.75€ / £2.25 + 3% foreign trans. fee
- How many cards can you have? Just one card in each currency.
- Not verified user limits: £1000 lifetime limit for deposits.

[gabbello]

I'm currently evaluating bitstamp plastic card vs. wirex plastic card.

So far, regarding Wirex fees I think that the biggest cost (vs Bitstamp) is when you change BTC in EUR.

E.g.
Wirex 1 BTC = 5909 EUR
Bitstamp 1 BTC = 6102 EUR

However Bitstamp charges:

* Fee for loading more than $1000.00 - 2% (I understand this type of fee does not exist on Wirex)
* $0.35 for every purchase (online or POS) (I understand this type of fee does not exist on Wirex)

NeuroticFish thanks for all the details.

I did a test payment with my virtual Wirex EUR card and I can confirm that the exchange rate (EUR-RON) is 3% on top of Visa exchange rate (see: https://www.visaeurope.com/making-payments/exchange-rates)