If you've spent any time looking for prepaid Bitcoin debit cards, you know that there are many different options out there. Some are Bitcoin-only, others accept altcoins, and some are based on specific countries. After evaluating the various options, I was looking for two things:
1) Low fees (or none) for converting BTC/depositing to the card
and
2) No dormancy fees
#2 was mainly because I likely won't be using it often, and think it's a little ridiculous to charge people just to even have an account, whether it's used or not. On top of this, some implementations will put your account into the negatives if you already have a zero balance!
BitPay fit both of these, with no fees for depositing BTC (you can see the conversion rate on their exchange chart), as well as zero fees for holding the card. On top of this, they are one of the cheaper options, coming in at under $10 for a card. To see the full fee schedule, check it out
here.
Some key features that I especially like are:
*Purchase Limits $10,000/DAY
*Cash Withdrawal Limits $3,000/DAY
*$750/TRAN
*Load Limit $10,000/DAY
*Maximum Card Balance $25,000
*Card to Card Transfer Limit $500/DAY
For pretty much all of us, this is more than good enough.
After deciding this was absolutely the path I wanted to take, it was time to set up an account. A fast and easy process, it does require personal information (as per KYC/AML), but no more than necessary. Once you've signed up, you're taken to the payment page, which shows exactly what to send in, and it's confirmed after you send the funds.
There is a little confusion after, since you don't technically have an account yet -- you make one when you get the card. And the card itself comes in a nondescript envelope, much like a credit card or other debit card would.
After receiving the card (mine took about a week), you set up your account and you're ready to roll. You can send funds through the site (using the BTC address) or use the BitPay wallet to do so. Here, you can send based on how much USD you want credited OR send x BTC and it will convert for you, so there are options there. And you can view your live balance within the BitPay wallet at any time. Confirmation comes quickly, and you're ready to spend your coin! And because it is attached to your identity, you can use all services (even things like PayPal, for example).
I mainly wanted to share this because the process was much easier than I expected it to be, it's a lot more full-featured, and it's the best option I've seen for those in the West. The lack of account fees (just for holding a card), cheap card cost, and no fees for depositing BTC are HUGE. I love when companies do things well, and I wish BitPay a long and happy life,
.
I'm actually got interested to BitPay when I used it in one of my purchase online. They are the payment provider for that site. I researched about it and stumbled upon their card. It looks promising from the details that you provided but unfortunately, my country is not eligible to have these type of card. As you may have known, this is for US-resident only and that's a bummer. I would love to use this card but the restrictions are hindering me for using it. Hopefully, they'll add more countries in their serviceable area and that'll definitely attract more customers.
