effect of Visa locks on bitcoin

[hugeblack]

Shoppers using cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum were hit after Visa locked down some pre-paid cards by blocking a single provider.

BitPay, Cryptopsy, and Bitwala have all had their cards suspended as of 5 January, meaning they cannot be used to pay for goods on the high street.


Visa said in a statement: “We can confirm that WaveCrest’s Visa membership is being terminated due to non-compliance with our operating rules. All WaveCrest-issued Visa card programmes will be closed as a result.

“The termination of WaveCrest’s Visa membership does not affect other Visa issuers’ card programmes, including those using fiat funds converted from cryptocurrency.[1]

Source http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bitcoin-visa-cards-cryptocurrency-lock-prepaid-latest-a8144706.html

1. Are you using Bitcoin pre-paid cards?
2. Do you think Visa locks will effect bitcoin?

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[BillCoin]

Shoppers using cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum were hit after Visa locked down some pre-paid cards by blocking a single provider.

BitPay, Cryptopsy, and Bitwala have all had their cards suspended as of 5 January, meaning they cannot be used to pay for goods on the high street.


Visa said in a statement: “We can confirm that WaveCrest’s Visa membership is being terminated due to non-compliance with our operating rules. All WaveCrest-issued Visa card programmes will be closed as a result.

“The termination of WaveCrest’s Visa membership does not affect other Visa issuers’ card programmes, including those using fiat funds converted from cryptocurrency.[1]

Source http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bitcoin-visa-cards-cryptocurrency-lock-prepaid-latest-a8144706.html

1. Are you using Bitcoin pre-paid cards?
2. Do you think Visa locks will effect bitcoin?

It doesn't has a strong impact on bitcoin.
The companies that issued visa debit cards that are being loaded with bitcoins usually charged an huge fee for that, what made it really unprofitable to use the bitcoins through the debit card.

I don't believe that they had many users, but it's maybe a sign that regulators are starting to look into crypto market and may attempt to regulate it, a thing that will damage the market at the long run.

[soham]

When Wavecrest got into a partnership with Visa, I am sure they have signed some kind of SOW with definite terms and compliance requirements. If you say that their membership got cancelled because they are using crypto currency, I am not buying that! Visa is global name in payment facilitation service and they operate on a strong operating values and compliance. I am sure, WaveCrest had violeted some of their SOW regulations and could not fulfill the compliance requirements as prescribed by Visa. That is the reason why they are locked out.

Bitcoin prepaid cards were not immensely popular so I don't expect any impact on the bitcoin due to this reason. This is just a temporary issue and I am sure both the companies will come to an agreement sooner or later to unblock their service.

[Kprawn]

Visa is starting to feel the disruption and they are using their centralized authority to slow it down. The problem is that they

will not be able to stop it, because Bitcoin is spreading like a virus. Wavecrest is just the start, we will see a lot more push

back from Visa as Bitcoin become mainstream. We support Bitcoin, because it is decentralized. 

[StGermain]

Shoppers using cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum were hit after Visa locked down some pre-paid cards by blocking a single provider.

BitPay, Cryptopsy, and Bitwala have all had their cards suspended as of 5 January, meaning they cannot be used to pay for goods on the high street.


Visa said in a statement: “We can confirm that WaveCrest’s Visa membership is being terminated due to non-compliance with our operating rules. All WaveCrest-issued Visa card programmes will be closed as a result.

Reading this I think that it can be that either they effectively did not comply with VISA rules or that VISA did set up a "trap" for this supplier. The cards business is still upcoming and these thing are bound to happen again.

[bitbunnny]

I'm one of affected Bitcoin debit card user and that is a big inconvenience for me.
Still I don't think that this is some special war of Visa against Bitcoin and it will not affect Bitcoin itself in any way.
This is Wave Crest issue, as a Visa Europe provider and I truly hope that Bitcoin debit card service will soon find some new and trusted provider.

[carlfebz2]

Shoppers using cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum were hit after Visa locked down some pre-paid cards by blocking a single provider.

BitPay, Cryptopsy, and Bitwala have all had their cards suspended as of 5 January, meaning they cannot be used to pay for goods on the high street.


Visa said in a statement: “We can confirm that WaveCrest’s Visa membership is being terminated due to non-compliance with our operating rules. All WaveCrest-issued Visa card programmes will be closed as a result.

“The termination of WaveCrest’s Visa membership does not affect other Visa issuers’ card programmes, including those using fiat funds converted from cryptocurrency.[1]

Source http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bitcoin-visa-cards-cryptocurrency-lock-prepaid-latest-a8144706.html

1. Are you using Bitcoin pre-paid cards?
2. Do you think Visa locks will effect bitcoin?

It doesn't has a strong impact on bitcoin.
The companies that issued visa debit cards that are being loaded with bitcoins usually charged an huge fee for that, what made it really unprofitable to use the bitcoins through the debit card.

I don't believe that they had many users, but it's maybe a sign that regulators are starting to look into crypto market and may attempt to regulate it, a thing that will damage the market at the long run.

Same beliefs on here which I don't really think off that they do have lots of users which we can able to say that I has really a major impact neither on bitcoin or into crypto market. One thing would be mainly affected is the service or company itself. This thing does really signifies that they are really trying to set out compliance or rules which would lead up to centralization and now they are seeing that bitcoin doesn't have those things.

[HODL_guy]

1. No, I think it's too early for that.
2. Visa can do it right now but it will be impossible in future and Visa will have to respect crypto. I don't think it will affect BTC price.

[jseverson]

Shoppers using cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum were hit after Visa locked down some pre-paid cards by blocking a single provider.

Some is the operative word. Everyone knows the stoppage was about a provider, rather than Bitcoin itself. From that, we could safely assume that the door is open for similar services in the future. It's an issue short term, because it blindsided users, but should pose no real problems long term.

It doesn't seem to have moved the market at all, and it only really affected users of the Visa pre-paid cards. It's not going to have any substantial effects other than inconvenience on the aforementioned users' end. It would be a different story if Visa banned all crypto related programs though.

[player514]

Shoppers using cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum were hit after Visa locked down some pre-paid cards by blocking a single provider.

BitPay, Cryptopsy, and Bitwala have all had their cards suspended as of 5 January, meaning they cannot be used to pay for goods on the high street.


Visa said in a statement: “We can confirm that WaveCrest’s Visa membership is being terminated due to non-compliance with our operating rules. All WaveCrest-issued Visa card programmes will be closed as a result.

“The termination of WaveCrest’s Visa membership does not affect other Visa issuers’ card programmes, including those using fiat funds converted from cryptocurrency.[1]

Source http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bitcoin-visa-cards-cryptocurrency-lock-prepaid-latest-a8144706.html

1. Are you using Bitcoin pre-paid cards?
2. Do you think Visa locks will effect bitcoin?

As far as I know this was only in effect in Europe. The articles I've read are only about VISA shutting things down there. I personally don't use Bitcoin pre-paid cards. In fact, I don't really like using Bitcoin as a currency for the reasons most people claim. The transaction fees and the length of confirmations are pretty rough on users. I'm not too sure how prepaid cards work, but I'm positive at some point you need to load them up, so the process won't be instant. I don't think many people are trying to survive only on Bitcoin. They generally can convert to fiat as they need, so I don't see this as being an extremely impactful change.

[chiggz]

This hardly had any impact of Bitcoin. Its not a surprise as this was going to happen sooner or later. Anyone who thought that Crypto prepaid cards were the way to go are idiots. When these big companies like VISA and banks have their own terms and conditions they will happily enforce it. And all these cards using one issuer i.e Wave Crest was a bit worrying. I guess there are a few ones using some other providers like TenX. I guess even these might come down soon.

[shaun98]

1. I'm not using Bitcoin debit cards
2. I think it will have a short term effect on the price of Bitcoin, and as of today, I think the effect is gone. However, this affects crypto card providers as most of them have to find new providers.

[flippener]

I use Cryptopay and this has shut down their debit card - fortunately I wasn't using it.

[Lucius]

I was thinking to get one of these cards this year,but then this happened so I will wait to see how will these companies adjust and offer some new cards.I see Bitwala is working on new solution by making crypto bank,it will be interesting to see what can they do regarding this.

This move from Visa have some impact on users who use such service to convert crypto to fiat,but most of them will find a way to do that in some other ways(BTC ATMs or LocalBitcoins).There is no doubt that many users just want to convert crypto to fiat and use it in daily life,so the need for such services is likely to increase by the time when we get opportunity to pay direct in crypto with low fees.

[Semosuchi Tesongrato]

These are the first bullets from the traditional economic system trying to protect itself.
Bitcoin its a real threat to the power of banks and governments; and as they start to realize its revolutionary potential, we can expect all kind of try to ban it. But in my opinion they can't win.

[joinfree]

There wasn't any effect on the price if that is what you meant.

But yes, all those cards who were using that provider are now fucked up, that is why i have always prefered to use MasterCard's instead of Visa's for my bitcoin cards.

And they are more easy to use.

[seven2smoke1]

Shoppers using cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum were hit after Visa locked down some pre-paid cards by blocking a single provider.

BitPay, Cryptopsy, and Bitwala have all had their cards suspended as of 5 January, meaning they cannot be used to pay for goods on the high street.


Visa said in a statement: “We can confirm that WaveCrest’s Visa membership is being terminated due to non-compliance with our operating rules. All WaveCrest-issued Visa card programmes will be closed as a result.

“The termination of WaveCrest’s Visa membership does not affect other Visa issuers’ card programmes, including those using fiat funds converted from cryptocurrency.[1]

Source http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bitcoin-visa-cards-cryptocurrency-lock-prepaid-latest-a8144706.html

1. Are you using Bitcoin pre-paid cards?
2. Do you think Visa locks will effect bitcoin?

I am already affected by this bad decision, on Visa. I think, they can make some new rules for the cards, but not stop them at all, It's too bad for people who own bitcoin/eth which they want to buy some stuffs using the internet with the Visa pre-paid cards. Personally, I used first the Uquid visa cards, which they have a contract with waves cards, after a few months they stop all the cards, I passed to Cryptopay cards, and then after a few months, I see the same thing, so bad for us.
For the 2nd question, Absolutely no, bitcoin will never affect by these kind of decisions.

[francojon]

It doesn't has a strong impact on bitcoin.
The companies that issued visa debit cards that are being loaded with bitcoins usually charged an huge fee for that, what made it really unprofitable to use the bitcoins through the debit card.

I don't believe that they had many users, but it's maybe a sign that regulators are starting to look into crypto market and may attempt to regulate it, a thing that will damage the market at the long run.

I think that VISA has tried to send a message out there to all the authorised card issuing partners. They just want to make sure that the new crypto wave is delayed as much as possible.

[Brunus]

This is a clear sign that tha war against crypto is officially declared.
But banks and governments can only procrastinate the bitcoin victory: the only way to stop cryptocurrencies is to shut down the internet...

[alyssa85]

Shoppers using cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum were hit after Visa locked down some pre-paid cards by blocking a single provider.

BitPay, Cryptopsy, and Bitwala have all had their cards suspended as of 5 January, meaning they cannot be used to pay for goods on the high street.


Visa said in a statement: “We can confirm that WaveCrest’s Visa membership is being terminated due to non-compliance with our operating rules. All WaveCrest-issued Visa card programmes will be closed as a result.

“The termination of WaveCrest’s Visa membership does not affect other Visa issuers’ card programmes, including those using fiat funds converted from cryptocurrency.[1]

Source http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bitcoin-visa-cards-cryptocurrency-lock-prepaid-latest-a8144706.html

1. Are you using Bitcoin pre-paid cards?
2. Do you think Visa locks will effect bitcoin?

Well it's time for Bitpay and others to create a way to use cryptocurrency without touching the Visa network. Hopefully this should spur innovation.