Bitcoin debit card

[giantblckdld]

 
Ok, did someone tried ?

[gosha@e-coin]

[...] Once the full integration is complete (February - March), you will be able to store money in BTC on the card as well.

That's great.

From your FAQ:

What are the fees associated with E-Card?
ATM Transaction Domestic

Domestic means within the UK or is that currency related (e.g. EUR card + EUR cashout = domestic, EUR card + USD cashout = international)?

Can I withdraw cash at ATM using my E-Card?
You can withdraw $400/ €400/£320 per day if your E-Coin account is not verified and $1200/ €1000/£800 per day once you have become a verified account holders.

400 € per day without any verification is huge! This means to withdraw/spend 146,000 € per year allmost anonymous. I can't really believe that this complies with AML/KYC?!

"Verified by Visa" is possible?

In the FAQ you should mention the bank you are connected with.

So, the card is just black? That's a bit boring. You show a great card design on your homepage. Hope this is used soon.

Domestic means currency related, you are exactly right.


Limits: oh, that would be sweet.. Unfortunately not, KYC defines card lifetime limits as well, apologies for missing that out in FAQ and well spotted - will make sure this is added there, too.

Here is the current full list:

Limits                        Unverified (KYC1)         Verified (KYC2)      
POS                           USD      EUR      GBP      USD      EUR      GBP
Number of purchases         per day      no limit   no limit   no limit   no limit   no limit   no limit
Value of purchases         per day      no limit   no limit   no limit   no limit   no limit   no limit
                     
ATM                     
Number of ATM transactions   per day      no limit   no limit   no limit   no limit   no limit   no limit
Value of ATM withdrawal      per transaction   $200      €200      £160      $600      €600      £400
Value of ATM withdrawal      per day      $400      €400      £320      $1200   €1,000   £800
Maximum ATM withdraw      Lifetime      $1000   €1,000   £800      no limit   no limit   no limit
                     
Loading Rules                     
Max single load                     $500      €500      £400      $10000   €10,000   £8,000
Max daily load                      $500      €500      £400      $20000   €20,000   £16,000
Max lifetime load                  $2500   €2,500   £2,000   no limit   no limit   no limit


The card design: it does not only depend on us, we would be thrilled to get the one shown in the homepage straight away, but there are some limitations imposed by Visa. This is one of the next steps - we are on it.

[gosha@e-coin]

Ok, did someone tried ?

a few have registered and ordered cards. It will now take a few days to receive them, depending on the location. Within EU the official timeframe is 5-10 days, from experience they usually arrive quicker. Outside EU - all depends on the local post service, which in some countries can be rather poor

[gosha@e-coin]

here is the full list of card limits, easier to read:


For verification you'll need to send scans of your ID and proof of address - typical stuff.

Verification itself and the increased limits will become available after the public release.

[kano]

Hmm, OK, I'll waste (only) a few dollars on this and try it out.
I'm in Australia.
I already use a few methods for doing this - one is a local Gift Card supplier who does it similarly but with a once off balance Debit/Savings Gift Card so I could track him down if anything went wrong, since I have his name and address from the start and he lives in the same state as me (and he's been doing it for a year now)

So ... $1 is ... about 0.0035 BTC at the moment.

So questions:
1) Where would the balance be visible?
2) Who has access to adjust the balance? (up or down)

The $2500 lifetime limit of the card doesn't make it all that great either.

I'm actually not expecting this to pan out - again there is something strange that you can do something that many other companies bigger and well known cannot.

Also wondering why your post history shows a post in russian
(yet you replied to me above 'mate')

[inuge285]

In mother Russia, you do not withdrawal bitcoins.

Bitcoins withdrawal you.

[pmatveev]

In mother Russia, you do not withdrawal bitcoins.

Bitcoins withdrawal you.

) we send e-cards in russia as well, check it get e-card

[Puppet]

EUR cards no longer or not yet available?

[Puppet]

Hmm, OK, I'll waste (only) a few dollars on this and try it out.
I'm in Australia.
I already use a few methods for doing this - one is a local Gift Card supplier who does it similarly but with a once off balance Debit/Savings Gift Card so I could track him down if anything went wrong, since I have his name and address from the start and he lives in the same state as me (and he's been doing it for a year now)

So ... $1 is ... about 0.0035 BTC at the moment.

So questions:
1) Where would the balance be visible?
2) Who has access to adjust the balance? (up or down)

The $2500 lifetime limit of the card doesn't make it all that great either.

I'm actually not expecting this to pan out - again there is something strange that you can do something that many other companies bigger and well known cannot.

Also wondering why your post history shows a post in russian
(yet you replied to me above 'mate')

The idea is the same as those Polish prepaid visa cards, of which Ive owned quite a few. They work fine, be it with similar restrictions in terms of limits, the only problem is that the issuer (mbank) recently changed its terms and prohibited using the card for bitcoin related activities, ie, if you fund the card through a bitcoin exchange, they block the cards. AFAIK, that was an mbank decision, not VISA, so its plausible whatever Granada bank ecoin is using has different policies -for now. I will say there is a serious risk of these policies changing, I dont think Id want to bet my company on this. For this reason I also think ecoin should disclose what bank they are using.

As for the balance, with these polish cards, you could send an SMS to view your balance, or you could register the card and you'd have a webinterface (never tried that). That service was provided by the issuing bank. I suspect something similar here, but we'll see.

Lastly, about the russian, the linkedin profiles of the people behind this where posted, they are all from russia originally.

[pmatveev]

Hmm, OK, I'll waste (only) a few dollars on this and try it out.
I'm in Australia.
I already use a few methods for doing this - one is a local Gift Card supplier who does it similarly but with a once off balance Debit/Savings Gift Card so I could track him down if anything went wrong, since I have his name and address from the start and he lives in the same state as me (and he's been doing it for a year now)

So ... $1 is ... about 0.0035 BTC at the moment.

So questions:
1) Where would the balance be visible?
2) Who has access to adjust the balance? (up or down)

The $2500 lifetime limit of the card doesn't make it all that great either.

I'm actually not expecting this to pan out - again there is something strange that you can do something that many other companies bigger and well known cannot.

Also wondering why your post history shows a post in russian
(yet you replied to me above 'mate')

1) balance will be visible on our website and in online banking of card issuer (you will get instructions how to set it up with your card)
2) we can only load the card with fiat (happens when you decide to convert coins into fiat), after that we can't take money from your card - it's only you who can send/spend them.

$2500 is for unverified users, just upload your documents and you will get unlimited card (see table above)

in case you have any difficulties you always can contact bank who issues the card, also they provide online banking for card holders

re post in russian

we think that emerging markets (russia, india ...) are the great opportunity for a new bitcoin business and we have russian speaking people in our team, so we decided to work with ex-ussr countries as well and the best way to communicate is to use their tongue


please let us know if you have any questions/concerns

[calfries]

Interesting.

Would the BTC rates update on this new visa/debt card in real time?

Does it use the same Visa network and therefore be susceptible to Western sanctions?

It would be great if such a card could operate outside of the geopolitical chaos! 

[dmitrycrypto]

Interesting.

Would the BTC rates update on this new visa/debt card in real time?

Does it use the same Visa network and therefore be susceptible to Western sanctions?

It would be great if such a card could operate outside of the geopolitical chaos!  

Sure, there is real time BTC rates

Absolutely the same Visa network, we cannot ship cards to addresses within countries that are on the sanction lists. However, the card is acceptable everywhere if there is the Visa's logo on an ATM or POS.

[gosha@e-coin]

Hmm, OK, I'll waste (only) a few dollars on this and try it out.
I'm in Australia.
I already use a few methods for doing this - one is a local Gift Card supplier who does it similarly but with a once off balance Debit/Savings Gift Card so I could track him down if anything went wrong, since I have his name and address from the start and he lives in the same state as me (and he's been doing it for a year now)

So ... $1 is ... about 0.0035 BTC at the moment.

So questions:
1) Where would the balance be visible?
2) Who has access to adjust the balance? (up or down)

The $2500 lifetime limit of the card doesn't make it all that great either.

I'm actually not expecting this to pan out - again there is something strange that you can do something that many other companies bigger and well known cannot.

Also wondering why your post history shows a post in russian
(yet you replied to me above 'mate')

have you registered yet, mate? all smooth with the card order?

Just a quick one on the Russian language and forum and whatever not: we are all from Russia originally, but by far not that stereotypical guy with a beard, a fur hat and a Kalashnikov. Born and bred there, always happy to go back, as it's home and a great country with great people - recently helped an Australian friend cross Russia from East to West by car, they absolutely loved it.
Yet, educated in Europe, fluent in languages, travelled half the world, etc. Been to Oz twice myself, loved it, will go again for sure, and I think 'mate' is one of the coolest words on the planet.

We've seen quite a good, constructive and positive response in the Russian thread and a lot of good thoughts, so, definitely going to continue with it.

Let us know how it goes with the card, and would appreciate your feedback - we really want and need to hear what you guys think, what is or would be useful, or what could be lost as no one needs it

[kano]

Hmm, OK, I'll waste (only) a few dollars on this and try it out.
I'm in Australia.
I already use a few methods for doing this - one is a local Gift Card supplier who does it similarly but with a once off balance Debit/Savings Gift Card so I could track him down if anything went wrong, since I have his name and address from the start and he lives in the same state as me (and he's been doing it for a year now)

So ... $1 is ... about 0.0035 BTC at the moment.

So questions:
1) Where would the balance be visible?
2) Who has access to adjust the balance? (up or down)

The $2500 lifetime limit of the card doesn't make it all that great either.

I'm actually not expecting this to pan out - again there is something strange that you can do something that many other companies bigger and well known cannot.

Also wondering why your post history shows a post in russian
(yet you replied to me above 'mate')

...

1) balance will be visible on our website and in online banking of card issuer (you will get instructions how to set it up with your card)
2) we can only load the card with fiat (happens when you decide to convert coins into fiat), after that we can't take money from your card - it's only you who can send/spend them.

...

Now that's where things start to fall apart.
Why are you able to access the account and get the balance?
How do we know that you "ONLY" have read access to the VISA account on the card?

Why would VISA give others access to the account unless they own the account or have details to use the account?

So if you were a bank in the UK there would be all sorts of laws controlling how you can handle peoples funds that you have control over, and make it simple to call a government body and make a complaint about the bank if funds were misappropriated. The bank would have to have invested heavily to be able to offer this so would be unlikely to run away with people's money or disappear.

Since you aren't a bank, then that basically means anyone of the list of unknown people who have access to your systems could pull my funds and leave me with an empty card.

[Puppet]

Kano, Ive not yet received my card from this company, but like I said, Ive had many of these prepaid visa cards, they all work alike.
Those cards are actually managed by the issuing bank, not by e-coin. e-coin will only fund the card for you, via SEPA / wire transfer. The cards normally come with the code in tamper proof envelopes produced by VISA themselves, without that, ecoin cant do anything with them. Well, other than fund the card, but anyone can fund them, as they have their own bank account numbers.

These prepaid cards are nothing new, the only novelty here is that ecoin will manage a bitcoin balance for you and do the btc->fiat exchange and transfer it to the card for you. Well, that and the fact they may have found a bank that doesnt block these cards (yet) when used for bitcoin.

[kano]

Kano, Ive not yet received my card from this company, but like I said, Ive had many of these prepaid visa cards, they all work alike.
Those cards are actually managed by the issuing bank, not by e-coin. e-coin will only fund the card for you, via SEPA / wire transfer. The cards normally come with the code in tamper proof envelopes produced by VISA themselves, without that, ecoin cant do anything with them. Well, other than fund the card, but anyone can fund them, as they have their own bank account numbers.

These prepaid cards are nothing new, the only novelty here is that ecoin will manage a bitcoin balance for you and do the btc->fiat exchange and transfer it to the card for you. Well, that and the fact they may have found a bank that doesnt block these cards (yet) when used for bitcoin.

However, they must have access to the card also to be able to have the card balance.

[bitcoinmaniac52]

hmmm wonder how this new card will work out

[CryptoCobaine1]

Will try this following week.

[Puppet]

However, they must have access to the card also to be able to have the card balance.

With these polish cards, you could check the balance by SMS if knew the last x digits of the cards. Instructions for that where in a separate letter (not in the tamper proof envelope) , so whoever sold the card would have had access to those balances. But not to the funds (no pin code, no CVC, possibly not the entire card number).

[kano]

Lulz card price:
$ 1.00
฿ 0.006000

$166.66 per 1 BTC ... gotta love that conversion rate ...