Bitpay Card ATM Withdrawals Suspended - Possibly Permanently

[cwazy]

The Bitpay card has been great for the 1 month or so that I have actually gotten to use it.  Unfortunately, effective March 8, they shutdown ATM withdrawals.  They claim that this is part of a “system upgrade”.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t hold water because they have no ETA.  I called customer service asking if it would be days, weeks, months, or years, and they told me they simply don’t know.  I then tweeted asking the same to their normally very active Twitter customer service, and got zero response.

So everyone can reasonably assume that Bitpay card ATM withdrawals are gone for good, and act accordingly.  My guess is that their card issuing bank kicked them off the network, and they are scrambling to find a replacement bank, which is unlikely given the stance of US banks on Bitcoin.  I hate that they are lying and calling it a system upgrade though.  It shows that things are not in great shape over there.  I wouldn’t leave any money on their card if you have it on there.  You can still use the Visa part for purchases, or transfer from the card to your bank.  Definitely get the money out of their hands - their house of cards appears to be crumbling.

[TeslaWatt.com]

Banks started push back big time. We noticed this too. The only way is to move as much as we can to crypto. They understand it's over for them. Especially because government is supporting blockchain use.

I think somehow merchant mark in the system SSN/name in some network so when you try to open some other service with some other merchant you are already marked. I told by Intuit for completely unrelated business that I am high risk so they shutdown merchant service for me.

edit: For BitPay we still don't know if is really some software issue eg. maintenance or suspended.

[magneto]

The Bitpay card has been great for the 1 month or so that I have actually gotten to use it.  Unfortunately, effective March 8, they shutdown ATM withdrawals.  They claim that this is part of a “system upgrade”.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t hold water because they have no ETA.  I called customer service asking if it would be days, weeks, months, or years, and they told me they simply don’t know.  I then tweeted asking the same to their normally very active Twitter customer service, and got zero response.

So everyone can reasonably assume that Bitpay card ATM withdrawals are gone for good, and act accordingly.  My guess is that their card issuing bank kicked them off the network, and they are scrambling to find a replacement bank, which is unlikely given the stance of US banks on Bitcoin.  I hate that they are lying and calling it a system upgrade though.  It shows that things are not in great shape over there.  I wouldn’t leave any money on their card if you have it on there.  You can still use the Visa part for purchases, or transfer from the card to your bank.  Definitely get the money out of their hands - their house of cards appears to be crumbling.

It's definitely possible that this is caused by some sort of clash with the traditional banking system.

It is this issue that has basically restricted any bitcoin debit cards from becoming mainstream in my opinion, because they were never able to establish a longstanding partnership with banks or payment processing networks. IIRC a while back there was a huge thing with Wavecrest that led to a lot of cards having to switch providers entirely.

I wouldn't assume that it's gone for good, at least for now, because they haven't said anything that would suggest something far more serious than just an upgrade, nor have any banks or providers. So it's pure speculation at this stage, albeit I think it is possible given the current climate of all the banks and third party payment processors towards bitcoin.

[gentlemand]

It's definitely possible that this is caused by some sort of clash with the traditional banking system.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/apw8uv/there_are_a_bulk_of_accounts_from_bitpay_that_are/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/a8elxy/bitpay_cards_blocked_in_european_union/

They've been having problems with a few banks. The Visa functionality bit is 100% out of their hands. The Shift card is toast at the end of the month too. I don't think it's a model that has a bright future though it's certainly useful while it lasted.

[proTECH77]

Suspension or possible ban on Bitpay Card ATM could have been seen as an attack from the government. There has been many of such attacks which actually came but still yet Bitcoin (cryptocurrency) still remain strong and stronger as the day passes. Banks will embrace the use of cryptocurrency when the time come. Let's continue the promotion and awareness to the general public.

[LeGaulois]

Since the card hasn't totally stopped to work (people can still use the POS) It could really be what it calls "an upgrade" but it seems to be one coming from the issuer and not Bitpay. That's also why they weren't able to give an estimated time to get everything back.
If Visa kicked out the isssuer the cards wouldn't work anymore for everything.

[buwaytress]

Since the card hasn't totally stopped to work (people can still use the POS) It could really be what it calls "an upgrade" but it seems to be one coming from the issuer and not Bitpay. That's also why they weren't able to give an estimated time to get everything back.
If Visa kicked out the isssuer the cards wouldn't work anymore for everything.

Think this is more likely what's happening. Glitch with some users very normal, and scheduled staggered upgrades even more normal. If this was down for everyone, we'd be seeing a flood of complaints now and for everyone across the board.

Not that I'm supporting Bitpay or anything, but I'm sure they'd be a bit more PR-savvy to give due notice to users if the scenario were true, especially if it was out of their hands. So yeah, maybe jumping the gun with a thread title like that;)

[cwazy]

Since the card hasn't totally stopped to work (people can still use the POS) It could really be what it calls "an upgrade" but it seems to be one coming from the issuer and not Bitpay. That's also why they weren't able to give an estimated time to get everything back.
If Visa kicked out the isssuer the cards wouldn't work anymore for everything.

Think this is more likely what's happening. Glitch with some users very normal, and scheduled staggered upgrades even more normal. If this was down for everyone, we'd be seeing a flood of complaints now and for everyone across the board.

Not that I'm supporting Bitpay or anything, but I'm sure they'd be a bit more PR-savvy to give due notice to users if the scenario were true, especially if it was out of their hands. So yeah, maybe jumping the gun with a thread title like that;)

I outlined the facts in my post, and titled it “possibly permanently”.  I think the most reasonable conclusion is that ATM functionality is gone for good.  Since Visa functionality is unaffected, perhaps it is the ATM networks that shut them down.  Until yesterday, the card worked on the Plus, Nyce, and Interlink ATM networks.  That would be a logical explanation as to why ATM functionality is gone but Visa functionality is up.

The issue with the claim of a system upgrade is the deafening silence.  When posed a direct question regarding whether or not ATM functionality would ever return, they simply refused to respond.  If it were a system upgrade, they’d say “oh yes, it will be back up, our engineers are working on it right now”.  This is less reading the tea leaves, and more watching the moving trucks roll into town to take it away.

[cwazy]

Since the card hasn't totally stopped to work (people can still use the POS) It could really be what it calls "an upgrade" but it seems to be one coming from the issuer and not Bitpay. That's also why they weren't able to give an estimated time to get everything back.
If Visa kicked out the isssuer the cards wouldn't work anymore for everything.

Think this is more likely what's happening. Glitch with some users very normal, and scheduled staggered upgrades even more normal. If this was down for everyone, we'd be seeing a flood of complaints now and for everyone across the board.

Not that I'm supporting Bitpay or anything, but I'm sure they'd be a bit more PR-savvy to give due notice to users if the scenario were true, especially if it was out of their hands. So yeah, maybe jumping the gun with a thread title like that;)

As an interesting aside, they have now posted this notice when you try to order a new card.  Given that it takes a few weeks to actually get the card, this is an odd message to be putting up if they planned on having ATM functionality back up anytime soon:

https://i.imgur.com/ZlQiawm.png

You can see it yourself by going here.

[nc50lc]

Banks started push back big time. We noticed this too. The only way is to move as much as we can to crypto. They understand it's over for them. Especially because government is supporting blockchain use. -snip-

You're that guy/company who sells Mining equipment to Ebay, right?
Maybe a problem with Visa? Old news but if that's the case, you're not wrong.
In my country, some Exchange cash-out options for fiat have been withdrawn and one particular bank cash-out option has more downtime than usual since this issue started.

So I guess that this isn't limited to Bitpay or Paypal (in TeslaWatt's case, anything crypto related was marked as "high-risk" by PP).

[FleurTunisienne]

Bitpay is actually one of the most trusted services helping both merchants and custmers to make trade and exchange operations using btc and bch. Surely they faced problems dealing with classic banking institutions, though it will be an upgrade lefting them back or to lunch its own system.
I checked compagnies using bitpay and everything looks fine running.
Expect atm withdraws for all cards crypto based to be suspended, it's a terminal fight against the adoption of cryptocurrencies.

[LeGaulois]

The paragraph below makes me think it's really an upgrade. What is their definition of "system conversion"  is another story But a company like BitPay would announce directly and frankly to its clients if the card stopped definitely to work. And reading their blog post, as I said look like really something that is going to stay just sometimes.

Right now the BitPay Card is scheduled for a system conversion, including upgrades to improve the systems that support your card. During the time of this conversion (starting March 8th), cash back features such as ATM withdrawals, POS cash back and over-the-counter cash advances will be unavailable. This service interruption is unavoidable, and we will make every effort to restore these services as soon as possible. 

https://support.bitpay.com/hc/en-us/articles/360024353032-Changes-to-BitPay-Card-cash-withdrawals-and-advances

[yahoo62278]

Tho OP is correct and basically showed you a copy of an email of what all of us Bitpay customers got. There is no reason to freak out though. You just cannot get cash from an ATM anymore. You can use the card for purchases as well as do ACH transfers to your bank. You can still get money in your bank account period, just not instantly from ATM.

Why go right to the negatives? 

[cwazy]

Tho OP is correct and basically showed you a copy of an email of what all of us Bitpay customers got. There is no reason to freak out though. You just cannot get cash from an ATM anymore. You can use the card for purchases as well as do ACH transfers to your bank. You can still get money in your bank account period, just not instantly from ATM.

Why go right to the negatives?  

Given that ATM transactions were all I ever used it for, the card is a worthless piece of plastic to me now, and I suspect the same is true for the vast majority of their other customers.  Anyway, it's pretty clear that ATM functionality (and thus the Bitpay card, at least for me) is gone for good.  "System upgrades" are never started at financial institutions without some sort of clearly defined timeline that is communicated to customers.  It's pretty clear that they are probably scrambling behind the scenes to get signed up with some other bank, but that's unlikely to happen.  Personally, I'm betting that the Visa functionality can't be far behind the ATM functionality.  The banks they work with either like Bitpay or they don't, regardless of the specific manner in which the money comes out of the account.

[2double0]

<<snip>>  

Given that ATM transactions were all I ever used it for, the card is a worthless piece of plastic to me now, and I suspect the same is true for the vast majority of their other customers.  Anyway, it's pretty clear that ATM functionality (and thus the Bitpay card, at least for me) is gone for good.  "System upgrades" are never started at financial institutions without some sort of clearly defined timeline that is communicated to customers.  It's pretty clear that they are probably scrambling behind the scenes to get signed up with some other bank, but that's unlikely to happen.  Personally, I'm betting that the Visa functionality can't be far behind the ATM functionality.  The banks they work with either like Bitpay or they don't, regardless of the specific manner in which the money comes out of the account.

True as most of the users were using it with ATM-specific reason and this will purely bottle out the whole user-base they have gained till date. But don't you think that calling this a permanent stop would be silly before their future announcements related to these system updates? May be this would turn a temporary move to improve their services while everyone thinking this to be permanent, but this will definitely sweep off the credibility Bitpay has earned so far. If I am correct, Bitpay is also a crypto payment processor for many websites which have integrated this to get paid in crypto?

[BitHodler]

May be this would turn a temporary move to improve their services while everyone thinking this to be permanent, but this will definitely sweep off the credibility Bitpay has earned so far.

BitPay has already lost most of its credibility, so I'm not sure how much there is left to ruin. All their actions so far seem to be adding up to something that eventually might result in a competitor to take over.

If I am correct, Bitpay is also a crypto payment processor for many websites which have integrated this to get paid in crypto?

More specifically, they accept Bitcoin and Bcash, but do everything they can to have Bcash become more appealing to people to use by charging an extra fee to use Bitcoin as payment option. Horrible service.

I'm glad that there are more payment gateways popping up lately, and some are growing exponentially. BitPay doesn't have much room left to behave like an absolute piece of shite.

[gentlemand]

I'm glad that there are more payment gateways popping up lately, and some are growing exponentially. BitPay doesn't have much room left to behave like an absolute piece of shite.

Bitpay has the banking and that's all that most users care about. That's what allows them to take the piss as they do.

Stuff like BTCPay server is nice and that but it doesn't stick the dollars in your account. Coinbase seem to be actively attempting to repel anyone who wants to do merchant stuff.

There needs to be another player with banking who doesn't have a kinky attitude to all this.

[cwazy]

True as most of the users were using it with ATM-specific reason and this will purely bottle out the whole user-base they have gained till date. But don't you think that calling this a permanent stop would be silly before their future announcements related to these system updates?

No.  Though my account was recently re-registered after a long period of inactivity, I was one of the first people on here calling Bitinstant out on their BS.  Even in the face of their denials, I persisted.  They sat there and claimed for months that problems were limited to specific transactions etc., until one day the dam broke and they just vanished.  Their CEO, of course, wound up in federal prison.  Allowing things like this to go on, where the writing is on the wall and there is clearly some lying/serious spinning happening is never a good thing, and calling attention to it now may save some people money and/or frustration.  I'm not saying Bitpay is a scam like Bitinstant became, but I am saying that in this case they are lying about the reason for shutting down ATM withdrawals, and the deafening silence from them on the issue all but confirms it.  History has shown that keeping money with an organization that is comfortable with lying to your face isn't the best idea.

By the way, Bitpay undoubtedly has reps that check this forum frequently.  They are welcome to chime in here and say that I'm wrong, anytime.  I'd be extremely happy to hear that I am way off base, along with an ETA, as I want the ATM functionality back as badly as any of their other customers.  The fact that they haven't, again, is concerning.

[1Referee]

Stuff like BTCPay server is nice and that but it doesn't stick the dollars in your account.

You can use your exchange's API to have the sales be an automated process. It's less convenient than what payment processors offer as service, but a great alternative.

CoinGate is a great alternative, and they allow merchants to ultilize Lightning Network too. The only downside is that they don't offer their services in the USA. And then we also have OpenNode trying to kick BitPay off its throne. Give it some time. BitPay has the network effect, a monopoly within the US, and still the best SEO. Not easy to fight it at this stage.

[opentoe]

I highly suspect that ATM cash out features will not return. I've been in the IT world for over 26 years and we've done "conversions" on millions and millions of accounts in one night. All Bitpay is doing is just trying to keep their name out there as long as it can. And living in the US it is almost impossible to turn some BTC into cash. The only reason they probably haven't conceded that instant cash out features will no longer be part of their model is they still are making money on selling a cheap piece of plastic that cost them pennies. Was good while it lasted...at least ACH still works, but that also will eventually die die out as well. There's not much leftout there for me to use being a US resident to change BTC to