The Bitcoin Prepaid Credit Card

[fryarminer]

I've been watching and subscribed to these guys for a while, and I finally ordered one of these cards a couple weeks ago. It hasn't arrived in the mail yet. I contacted them and got an immediate response that they had processed the order and the card should be on the way. Has anyone else signed up and gotten one of these and what is your opinion of it?

Basically it is a prepaid credit card that is reloadable, and it can be loaded either with regular money or with bitcoin. You use it like a credit card anywhere where Master Card is accepted. Seems like a more direct way to spend bitcoin for regular purchases.

http://thebitcoincard.co.uk


Forgive me if this is already on another thread on the forum, I looked but haven't found anything.

[hilariousandco]

I've been watching and subscribed to these guys for a while, and I finally ordered one of these cards a couple weeks ago. It hasn't arrived in the mail yet. I contacted them and got an immediate response that they had processed the order and the card should be on the way. Has anyone else signed up and gotten one of these and what is your opinion of it?

Basically it is a prepaid credit card that is reloadable, and it can be loaded either with regular money or with bitcoin. You use it like a credit card anywhere where Master Card is accepted. Seems like a more direct way to spend bitcoin for regular purchases.

http://thebitcoincard.co.uk


Forgive me if this is already on another thread on the forum, I looked but haven't found anything.

It's a debit card then, not credit. And I can't confirm it, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is a scam.

[Flanagan]

A debit card would be Ok for most internet purchases (think Amazon etc.). Doesn't need to be a CREDIT card.

I think.

[Kiki112]

here's a thread about them
read it

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=265668.0

you could of googled it instead of asking questions right away but it's cool, we like to answer questions

[Johnny Bitcoinseed]

It will be interesting to see if anyone has had good success with this card recently.  I expect many more companies like this in the near future

[fryarminer]

here's a thread about them
read it

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=265668.0

you could of googled it instead of asking questions right away but it's cool, we like to answer questions

Thank you! I read it. Makes me not want to activate the card when it arrives - why pay so many fees and try to jump through all those hoops. Looks like it's back to research for something comparable. Any ideas?

[Meuh6879]

Yes, credit card is not the debit card ... the logo is a joke for identify the right seller that it accept this.


(source : neteller)

[God_FatheR]

Sounds too good to be true!

So i deposit bitcoins and then i go from atm anywhere and i withdraw money??? Well is it working , i cant figure it out from your posts!!

[BTCisthefuture]

I expect bitcoin debit/credit cards to be a common thing in the coming years.  Ultimately for more mainstream adoption regular everyday people are going to want something easy like that.  Of course you then have to deal with 3rd parties which will include increased fee's , but so long as those fee's manage to be cheaper than current debit/credit card fees then a lot of people will probably still use them while those of us who understand bitcoin a little more will spend bitcoins on our own without relying on a 3rd party.

[Meuh6879]

the problem ... is not the fee of BTC.
but the fee of EACH item that you bid with this card.

That why Paypal Card is useless
That why Neteller Card is useless

[hilariousandco]

I expect bitcoin debit/credit cards to be a common thing in the coming years.  Ultimately for more mainstream adoption regular everyday people are going to want something easy like that.  Of course you then have to deal with 3rd parties which will include increased fee's , but so long as those fee's manage to be cheaper than current debit/credit card fees then a lot of people will probably still use them while those of us who understand bitcoin a little more will spend bitcoins on our own without relying on a 3rd party.

Couldn't you just make your own? I don't see why we need third parties at all, this is the genius of BTC.

[fryarminer]

I expect bitcoin debit/credit cards to be a common thing in the coming years.  Ultimately for more mainstream adoption regular everyday people are going to want something easy like that.  Of course you then have to deal with 3rd parties which will include increased fee's , but so long as those fee's manage to be cheaper than current debit/credit card fees then a lot of people will probably still use them while those of us who understand bitcoin a little more will spend bitcoins on our own without relying on a 3rd party.

Couldn't you just make your own? I don't see why we need third parties at all, this is the genius of BTC.

How could I make my own debit card, without using my bank? Because I would do it if I could.

What makes this card attractive to me is that I can use bitcoins that I have earned for day to day purchases, without making deposits to my bank. It sickens me how easy it is to know a person's entire life based on looking at their bank account.

I moved a few months ago. I kept my old address as my credit card address. A couple weeks later my card didn't work anymore. I called my credit card company. The credit card company wanted to know why I wasn't in Florida anymore, and why I had purchased a hamburger in such-and-such town, gasoline in this other town, a headset in this town, and this other thing at this other place. They had summarized the last two weeks of my life better than I remembered them myself!!

With a card like this, I mine bitcoins at a rate that only I know, I purchase a coupon to top up the card with my bitcoin, then I make purchases with the card, and there is no trail for someone to follow. I live in peace.

[sbrzol]

- i use bitstamp to exchange my bitcoins
- withdraw to my Slovak bank account  (i am from Hungary, so no tax, etc. ) then
- credit my Skrill VIP account from this bank account (on the same day it arrived form bitstamp)
- use my Skrill mastercard to take out of fiat (HUF) from any atm or pay via POS in Hungary
(all fees with conversation is about/under 1%)

Skrill exchange rate is very good (no fee)
last time:
Exchange rate used on Skrill:   1 HUF = 0.003353 EUR      

Exchange rate at this time on xe.com:   1 HUF = 0.00333 EUR      

Xe.com
14 Jan 2014 22:30 UTC - 21 Jan 2014 22:41 UTC
HUF/EUR close:0.00330, low:0.00329, high:0.00335



but a bitcoin mastercard will be better of course ( with about or less then 1% fee )

[BTCisthefuture]

I expect bitcoin debit/credit cards to be a common thing in the coming years.  Ultimately for more mainstream adoption regular everyday people are going to want something easy like that.  Of course you then have to deal with 3rd parties which will include increased fee's , but so long as those fee's manage to be cheaper than current debit/credit card fees then a lot of people will probably still use them while those of us who understand bitcoin a little more will spend bitcoins on our own without relying on a 3rd party.

Couldn't you just make your own? I don't see why we need third parties at all, this is the genius of BTC.

How could I make my own debit card, without using my bank? Because I would do it if I could.

What makes this card attractive to me is that I can use bitcoins that I have earned for day to day purchases, without making deposits to my bank. It sickens me how easy it is to know a person's entire life based on looking at their bank account.

I moved a few months ago. I kept my old address as my credit card address. A couple weeks later my card didn't work anymore. I called my credit card company. The credit card company wanted to know why I wasn't in Florida anymore, and why I had purchased a hamburger in such-and-such town, gasoline in this other town, a headset in this town, and this other thing at this other place. They had summarized the last two weeks of my life better than I remembered them myself!!

With a card like this, I mine bitcoins at a rate that only I know, I purchase a coupon to top up the card with my bitcoin, then I make purchases with the card, and there is no trail for someone to follow. I live in peace.

Don't think you can create a btc debit card yourself without needing a 3rd party, at least not yet as far as I know.  Unless you consider having a hot wallet on your phone the same as a debit card, I guess it is kinda the same.

And yeah pretty insane how easy it is to track a person down simply by purchases they make with plastic. To be fair though I think your card company was just making sure someone hadn't stolen your card. So it's a tradeoff, they can try to help protect you from fraudulent charges, in exchange though you are giving up certain levels of privacy.

[fryarminer]

So the visa prepaid cards arrived in the mail yesterday. They are, as one of you said, TC cards. They say nothing about Bitcoin on them, which isn't a problem at all. To activate the card, you send a text message. Then you're supposed to go to the Trans-Cash.fr website before you can load the card with the coupons you purchase at thebitcoincard.co.uk using bitcoin.
Sounds good - it avoids banks which is what I'm looking for. However it doesn't work.
The French site immediately request an address from France, and a form of French ID.
And thebitcoincard.co.uk site doesn't work. I get a "The requested page cannot be found" every time I log in.

So... Failure. I don't think it's a fraud because I got the cards - but something doesn't work.

There's another option out there - bitplastic.com, but it is very expensive. When I sent an email to ask if the pricing was accurate (and also to test to see if there was a real person behind support) I got a cold "yes correct" reply - but I did get a fast reply so that says a lot.

I wish there was another way to get prepaid visas for Bitcoin. Maybe I'll have to blast half my spending money on fees from Bitplastic..

[fryarminer]

Ok, I found a way around the website to where to buy the coupons to top up the card.
Prices are a little steep - you pay 55 Euro for a 50 Euro coupon, and 550 Euro for a 500 Euro coupon.

[Bitcoin-hotep]

So what happened?

[fryarminer]

So what happened?

I thought twice about it and decided that it wasn't worth the price to pursue having a prepaid visa in my wallet from a shady company.

So I set up an account with Gyft, bought gift cards for Amazon and other places, got an Amazon Prime account, and I was golden.

There's very little that you cannot buy on Amazon. Maybe not a car or a house.. but they pretty much have everything else.

And heck, Gyft even gives points for purchasing cards with bitcoin, and they sell you the cards at the going BTC market rate. In the end I think I found what I was looking for.

[RodeoX]

So what happened?

...There's very little that you cannot buy on Amazon. Maybe not a car or a house.. ...

For cars check out Overstock:
http://cars.overstock.com/?referrer_id=ZOSCSTPS0001&TID=TN:AD:Cars
They have just about every new and used model. I'm fairly sure this is where my next car is coming from.

[fryarminer]

So what happened?

...There's very little that you cannot buy on Amazon. Maybe not a car or a house.. ...

For cars check out Overstock:
http://cars.overstock.com/?referrer_id=ZOSCSTPS0001&TID=TN:AD:Cars
They have just about every new and used model. I'm fairly sure this is where my next car is coming from.

Dude!!! Thanks!

I see a Tesla in my future.

Wait, someone already purchased one of those with BTC...!