eToro Plans to Launch Its Own Debit Card in 2020

[hugeblack]

Rumors are still rife about eToro launching its debit card but in a recent interview with Globe’s Roy Katsiri, eToro confirmed that the company is already planning to launch a debit card this year. According to Katsiri, co-founder and CEO of eToro, Yoni Assia said:

n its efforts to streamline operations, eToro’s leadership believes the debit card will further provide its customers with a convenient way to withdraw and spend their funds. In this connection, eToro boasts, “to be one of the few companies in the world in which the customer can both buy bitcoin on the platform and transfer it to his wallet, and also trade in shares.

"Our activity grew substantially in 2019 in both Australia and Southeast Asias: the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and China"

"Today, we offer US customers only trading in cryptocurrencies, but in the future, we'll expand our activity there to trading in shares. In addition to the 42 US states in which we're active, we're planning to expand to other states, including New York."

The cards will also provide financial services to more than 100 countries.

Read more & source ---> https://bitcoinist.com/etoro-plans-to-launch-its-own-debit-card-in-2020/

[audaciousbeing]

I have seen eToro on several ads on social media platforms but I never took them serious thinking its just one of those platforms that spring forth with huge publicity only to gain more then disappear into thin air. But with this move, I think I have to start taking them serious as they mean business. Launching a debit card is surely not a small feat and the amount of capital to be involved in that is not small for them to chicken out any time soon.

[amacar2]

Etoro is in the market for relatively long time however they have introduced cryptocurrency trading during the last bull run to attract new user base. I can still remember those 2 free facebook share i got from them during early days just after registration.

They are just following their competitor in this debit card game, offering debit card to customer will make sure that they wont withdraw money from the site (they already have high withdrawal fee to limit this) and might invest more of their idle money in stocks.

I am qute sure those debit cards wont be available to every country where they operate and they still dont take crypto deposit so there is no way we can use this as bitcoin debit card.

[1Referee]

I have seen eToro on several ads on social media platforms but I never took them serious thinking its just one of those platforms that spring forth with huge publicity only to gain more then disappear into thin air.

I had the same feeling, but I have seen their adds before I got involved in Bitcoin back in early 2013. It was like; are you a pro trader? Can you beat the market? Sign up now and get x$$ bonus.

I'm all for a competitive market because it helps pushing the fees down and force improvement or otherwise risk becoming obsolete as service. I'm however more of a purist myself in the sense that if you don't actually spend Bitcoin, you aren't spending Bitcoin. With these cards the illusion is created that you are spending Bitcoin, but you are not.

Not saying there is no demand for these services (otherwise they wouldn't pop up like mushrooms after a raindy day), but I'll stick to my fiat debit card where volatility isn't going to influence purchasing decisions because you expect the price to pump or dump soon.

[smyslov]

Rumors are still rife about eToro launching its debit card but in a recent interview with Globe’s Roy Katsiri, eToro confirmed that the company is already planning to launch a debit card this year. According to Katsiri, co-founder and CEO of eToro, Yoni Assia said:

The cards will also provide financial services to more than 100 countries.

Read more & source ---> https://bitcoinist.com/etoro-plans-to-launch-its-own-debit-card-in-2020/

eToro is an old player in the trading business I believe they are already popular, long before we have Cryptocurrency trading platform, and with this move they want to compete to big platforms and to cover more territories, they can do this because they have a big slice in the market and they have shown their capability to market their products.

[mk4]

I have seen eToro on several ads on social media platforms but I never took them serious thinking its just one of those platforms that spring forth with huge publicity only to gain more then disappear into thin air. But with this move, I think I have to start taking them serious as they mean business. Launching a debit card is surely not a small feat and the amount of capital to be involved in that is not small for them to chicken out any time soon.

eToro has existed for a while already, with pretty decent feedback from their users(as far as I know), and I also personally haven't had a single problem with it int he past. eToro is just mostly getting a bad rap on social media because of their ads being being quite shady and questionable- telling people stuff like investing is just easy as just following some other person's portfolio and such; which I definitely don't suggest anyone to do.

I've also listened to podcast episodes with some of the eToro people aboard, and they seem trustworthy as far as I know. Bitcoin-bullish people, too.

[Kyraishi]

eToro seems to be very aggressive in their marketing in recent days, I've seen their ads everywhere including on the streets.

So yeah, a debit card makes sense in the sense that they're trying to appeal to their target audience of mainstream investors, who needs a platform to simplify things for them without having to go into the nitty gritty of getting a wallet, learning the fundamentals of trading, etc. A debit card will ensure that people essentially feel like this is a second bank account.

It'll be interesting since there hasn't been a good crypto debit card for a while now. But I doubt this is going to be the one, since the only thing that resembles crypto on their platform are in fact derivatives, not crypto themselves.

[mk4]

eToro seems to be very aggressive in their marketing in recent days, I've seen their ads everywhere including on the streets.

So yeah, a debit card makes sense in the sense that they're trying to appeal to their target audience of mainstream investors, who needs a platform to simplify things for them without having to go into the nitty gritty of getting a wallet, learning the fundamentals of trading, etc. A debit card will ensure that people essentially feel like this is a second bank account.

eToro has been making controversial ads for a while now, targeting more of the lazier demographics(I assume) due to them mostly advertising their "social trading" feature a.k.a. their lets-copy-that-guy's-portfolio feature.

I guess that new debit card is good though, hope they allocate more of their time onto making eToro a great investing platform(yes, actual investing, rather than day trading a.k.a. gambling).

[joniboini]

It'll be interesting since there hasn't been a good crypto debit card for a while now. But I doubt this is going to be the one, since the only thing that resembles crypto on their platform are in fact derivatives, not crypto themselves.

I don't think they need to have crypto on their platform for this service anyway. As long as their card works perfectly without any extensive KYC, and it can be used here and there, I'll give them a try.

There is no good card provider that does this in my country, even if there is any, their reputation is questionable.

[coupable]

In addition to investment options offered by etoro, the platform started focusing on trade business by providing more trade options like lunching a crypto exchange <Etorox> in April last year and also a crypto-assets portofolio management with delta. Note that etoro is one of the first regulated platform to offer bitcoin trades since 2014.
The news was published last month in a detailed Business insider article. According to this article, the card will be first lunched at 2020 second quarter and will initially lunch in UK and not in USA states.

[Harlot]

I have seen eToro on several ads on social media platforms but I never took them serious thinking its just one of those platforms that spring forth with huge publicity only to gain more then disappear into thin air.

I had the same feeling, but I have seen their adds before I got involved in Bitcoin back in early 2013. It was like; are you a pro trader? Can you beat the market? Sign up now and get x$$ bonus.

One of the most memorable Youtube ads they have and maybe the most popular one is with Kristian Nairin, the actor of Hodor from the Game of Thrones, where he did his famous line "Hodor" and just translated it to "HODL". Just like you I haven't taken eToro seriously since eToro and IQoptions are always alternating ads in every website I am seeing that's why it gave me an impression that they are just competitors on the same market. With eToro being a big name in the crypto industry I think them having a debit card would only make the competition more competitive in terms of their services especially their fees which I think will be good for us traders and consumers.

[adzino]

Yeah, that is great, but do we really need a crypto "debit card"? If banks get involved with a crypto currency, that currency no longer remains a decentralized coin. Again, if you will be adding funds to your debit card, you will have to transfer your coins to that debit card. This means that you will no longer be the sole owner of those coins. You won't also be using your crypto currencies for making transactions. All you will be doing is convert your crypto currency to fiat currency and then spend it. I see no difference between this and a normal debit card issued by a bank.

[gentlemand]

Yeah, that is great, but do we really need a crypto "debit card"?

It won't be a crypto debit card. Etoro does not sell crypto. It sells price exposure to crypto in fiat. You can't deposit or withdraw the real deal there and never have been able to. It's similar to Revolut. It's a crypto profit card.

I'm not sure why this is being discussed in a Bitcoin forum really.

[stompix]

I'm not sure why this is being discussed in a Bitcoin forum really.

Because it's a service that also offers something related to bitcoin...not really sure what but since you mentioned revolut I assume you're buying CFD not BTC, right?
Well, they get a bit more free advertising, we get a little more hype, nobody will use it to covert fake BTC to money since, well you have your usual card for this, and we'll wait till the next service to pop-up.

I see no difference between this and a normal debit card issued by a bank.

Because there is none!
And it's not just the bank, in order for those cards to function all over the place they will have to be issued under either Visa or Mastercard and if one of those thinks the bank is not really complying with their terms they will shut them all down as they did with WaveCrest.

As long as their card works perfectly without any extensive KYC,

Keep dreaming...