2017 Bitcoin Debit Card Reviews

[NeuroticFish]

Is Wirex the first service that will put back Bitcoin debit cards on the market after Visa and Wave Crest issue? Will there be some new features and improvements? Any planned dates for issuing new cards?
And what about the others, does anyone has some information? I think market hardly waits for this gap to be filled.

There are a few services that were still working because they didn't use Wavecrest.
From the others, it looks like indeed Wirex is the first. At least from the ones I've been watching.
From their announcement it looks like some luckier users have already got upgrade notice. I didn't .
So the planned date seems to be 9th of March.
Unfortunately they are not very talkative these days, I asked 1-2 weeks ago about the planned release and all I've got was "Q1 2018".


Edit: I've found more info on Availability:

• UK: March 9th, 2018
• EU countries: Available end of March
• Japan and South East Asia accounts available soon

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[keyscore44]

Is Wirex the first service that will put back Bitcoin debit cards on the market after Visa and Wave Crest issue? Will there be some new features and improvements? Any planned dates for issuing new cards?
And what about the others, does anyone has some information? I think market hardly waits for this gap to be filled.

There are a few services that were still working because they didn't use Wavecrest.
From the others, it looks like indeed Wirex is the first. At least from the ones I've been watching.
From their announcement it looks like some luckier users have already got upgrade notice. I didn't .
So the planned date seems to be 9th of March.
Unfortunately they are not very talkative these days, I asked 1-2 weeks ago about the planned release and all I've got was "Q1 2018".

Personally i wait for new relase of Cryptopay.me Bitcoin Debit Card, but last info from their support is from 27th February: "Our platform is 80% ready to incorporate a new card program, so there are still some technical changes and practicalities left before we launch it. The cards should become available in a couple of months."
I wrote info to them about this Wirex announcement, maybe it will speed up their work

[piotr_PL]

Personally i wait for new relase of Cryptopay.me Bitcoin Debit Card, but last info from their support is from 27th February: "Our platform is 80% ready to incorporate a new card program, so there are still some technical changes and practicalities left before we launch it. The cards should become available in a couple of months."
I wrote info to them about this Wirex announcement, maybe it will speed up their work

Why would you wrote above? Cryptopay.me has high fees and fixed monthly maintenance fee.
There were and will be card issuers who will provide us with prepaid card service for 1% of converted crypto via some best shapeshift or bitpay exchange rate.
This is year of regulation and we just need to HODL at the moment. 

[warningsigns]

Bitcoin debit card providers should not exclude markets which have a traditionally solid record of spending power. Penetrating those markets and establishing a strong user base is crucial for the success of these card programs. That’s because generating revenue invariably depends on the volume of transactional fees incurred as a result of card usage. The more cardholders loading and using the cards, the more profitable these cards will be for these card providers.

Survival will be difficult in this intensely competitive prepaid card environment if the cards are restricted to a very small segment of users such as the EU alone. To be successful, Wirex, Cryptopay etc should expand their operations worldwide.

[WWP]

How about this idea? https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2988168.0
As it relates to this topic.

[Bisonindatent]

Bonpay will be a future leader

[jerry0]

Any bitcoin debit card recommendations for US people?


Also using it while outside the US?


I heard of bitpay but are they still good?

[teddy5145]

Any bitcoin debit card recommendations for US people?


Also using it while outside the US?


I heard of bitpay but are they still good?

As long as you have mean of verification, Bitpay should be good
Otherwise, try Coinsbank, they send cards to US too.

Those cards have either Mastercard / Visa logo, so you should be able to use it outside US, but there are additional fee for exchanging foreign currency on other country's ATMs

[European Central Bank]

Any bitcoin debit card recommendations for US people?


Also using it while outside the US?


I heard of bitpay but are they still good?

you people are spoiled. you can still get coinbase shift and bitpay cards. bitpay may have questionable loyalties to bcash, but they work fine.

both of them are visa cards so they'll work wherever any other visa card which is pretty much everywhere.

[TryNinja]

you people are spoiled. you can still get coinbase shift and bitpay cards. bitpay may have questionable loyalties to bcash, but they work fine.

both of them are visa cards so they'll work wherever any other visa card which is pretty much everywhere.

And for the people living outside the EU and USA? I haven't been folowing the news, so what happened after the whole WaveCrest + Visa breakdown on cryptocurrencies cards? Did anyone find a new provider?

[European Central Bank]

And for the people living outside the EU and USA? I haven't been folowing the news, so what happened after the whole WaveCrest + Visa breakdown on cryptocurrencies cards? Did anyone find a new provider?

looks like wagecan is still the only possibility for now for truly worldwide stuff. there are often outlier cards that claim to be worldwide too, but in most cases they're dead too and didn't bother to update and the rest i've never heard of but i'm not inclined to take the risk.

and i think wagecan was the only possibility for a while before as the providers of wavecrest cards shut them down for all non EU people before they all went.

[r3alkapo]

Hello, is the wirex service back again? Can i purchase a virutal credit card with bitcoin, i had an account before but then the wirex was closed.

[TryNinja]

Hello, is the wirex service back again? Can i purchase a virutal credit card with bitcoin, i had an account before but then the wirex was closed.

I'm getting a 'HTTP ERROR 403' when I try to visit their blog, but I have found some news about them.

Posted in Mar 9, 2018: https://news.bitcoin.com/wirex-launching-bitcoin-debit-cards-in-europe/
Posted in Mar 16, 2018: https://news.bitcoin.com/wirex-launch-cryptocurrency-debit-cards-asia-q2-2018/

Those are the supported countries so far:

[Zandorek]

Hello, is the wirex service back again? Can i purchase a virutal credit card with bitcoin, i had an account before but then the wirex was closed.

I'm getting a 'HTTP ERROR 403' when I try to visit their blog, but I have found some news about them.

Posted in Mar 9, 2018: https://news.bitcoin.com/wirex-launching-bitcoin-debit-cards-in-europe/
Posted in Mar 16, 2018: https://news.bitcoin.com/wirex-launch-cryptocurrency-debit-cards-asia-q2-2018/

Those are the supported countries so far:

Yeah, only for verified users...

[gentlemand]

Yeah, only for verified users...

Have they said why no UK? I get the feeling that GBP users will be forgotten and left behind in this new wave of cards. It's more trouble than it's worth for most providers to find accounts for it.

[stompix]

Personally i wait for new relase of Cryptopay.me Bitcoin Debit Card, but last info from their support is from 27th February: "Our platform is 80% ready to incorporate a new card program, so there are still some technical changes and practicalities left before we launch it. The cards should become available in a couple of months."
I wrote info to them about this Wirex announcement, maybe it will speed up their work

Why would you wrote above? Cryptopay.me has high fees and fixed monthly maintenance fee.
There were and will be card issuers who will provide us with prepaid card service for 1% of converted crypto via some best shapeshift or bitpay exchange rate.
This is year of regulation and we just need to HODL at the moment. 

I've just checked cryptopay and I have a bad feeling about it...
They are also working as an exchange and giving out loans with bitcoin as collateral.
I really wonder if they have the done all the paperwork required to offer those services.

As for the fees...
Card price   €15.00
Domestic ATM Transaction   €2.25
Foreign transaction fee   3%
Monthly service fee   €1.00
Loading fee   1%

With those prices I'm far better of just withdrawing from Kraken to my ING account

...
I also need a card but I want it just for small online purchases.
I don't want the plastic, and I don't want to pay that 40$ fee, especially since I'm going to purchase stuff under <100 and only one time.
Also, I'm OK with any verification whatsoever
Suggestions?

The virtual debit cards that are offered by Neteller could be an option for you.
They are valid Mastercards and can be used at any online shop that
accepts Mastercard.

You can fund your Neteller account with Bitcoin for a 1 % fee (on top of the Bitcoin
transaction fee).

If you never order the physical Net+ Mastercard, you won´t need to
pay any additional fees apart from the Bitcoin deposit fee.

And now a bit of feedback for this card....although a little late.
Loading went well but purchases are a real pain in the ass.
I don't know if it's the fault of the merchant or the Mastercard but twice I got an error of invalid transactions and the funds were returned in my account between 3 and 5 days....
Good thing I don't need them anymore.

[gentlemand]

With those prices I'm far better of just withdrawing from Kraken to my ING account

The actual usefulness of these cards depends hugely on where you're living. In the UK there aren't any exchanges and banks can often get the hump and shut you down if you sell via Localbitcoins more than a couple of times.

Because of that cards were extremely useful as they never touch any bank account.

If you're somewhere in mainland Europe then there's not much point and never really has been. SEPA and slightly less hostile banks make them kind of pointless.

[stompix]

With those prices I'm far better of just withdrawing from Kraken to my ING account

The actual usefulness of these cards depends hugely on where you're living. In the UK there aren't any exchanges and banks can often get the hump and shut you down if you sell via Localbitcoins more than a couple of times.

Because of that cards were extremely useful as they never touch any bank account.

If you're somewhere in mainland Europe then there's not much point and never really has been. SEPA and slightly less hostile banks make them kind of pointless.

I don't like keeping coins with a third party, especially if it's a shady on, so using this kind of cards would really be a last resort. But yeah, sometimes the EU is a good place to be.

I've done 6-8 transactions with locabitcoin BTC > fiat because it was instant bank transfer so I've got my money in 2 mins or so while being away from home. But lately localbitcoins sellers around here are buying with a margin of around 5-10% and that's a big turn-off so I don't think I'm going to use them again. While doing it, no news from my bank although one transaction wasn't that small...

I'm surprised about what you say regarding UK? Really?
This is news to me, and a bit weird.
Are you already out of the EU?  

[gentlemand]

I'm surprised about what you say regarding UK? Really?
This is news to me, and a bit weird.
Are you already out of the EU?  

Banking has been effectively closed to crypto in the UK since it started. Coinfloor, perhaps the only big ish UK exchange, has to bank in Poland. Coinbase sends from Estonia.
 
No way could any business keep or maintain an account. Previous attempts at exchanges like Intersango just lied to the bank until they were found out. I'd love to know how much less dismal the scene here would be if banking had been available.

Loads of people have reported having their accounts closed due to seemingly innocuous crypto dealings. I think most of the time they were doing masses of LBC trade and weren't telling the bank. It's the unauthorised business use and money laundering bit they don't like rather than crypto, but you never know.

It's just started to change with Coinbase being the first operation to access the faster payments network in a few weeks. Dunno how long it'll survive though.

We ain't out of Europe yet. I'm not too sure how far we were ever in it.

[NeuroticFish]

I'm surprised about what you say regarding UK? Really?
This is news to me, and a bit weird.
Are you already out of the EU?  

Actually this is more in-EU stuff than out-of-EU, imho.
Same goes in my country, Romania. Most exchanges had to shut doors because of the banks. I've heard so many horror stories about Localbitcoins or withdrawing larger amounts from Coinbase or Kraken I feared to try them out.
So yeah, cards are the solution that works, even if the fees are significantly bigger.


BTW, I have again a working virtual card at Wirex (I don't know yet what's the status of plastic cards for my country and their support is not as helpful as it should be on the matter).