I’m still in beautiful Bali Indonesia and I wanted to share this great view with you all while at the same time telling you about these magical cards that exist that allow you to spend your Bitcoin and other cryptos out in the real world.
No longer do you have to wonder and hope that your local mini mart will take Bitcoin as a form of payment.
Now you can spend your BTC anywhere Visa or MasterCard is accepted, and they’ll never know the difference!
What’s even cooler is that you can use many of these cards at ATMs and cash out your bitcoin that way.
There’s quite a few of these cards now so let me introduce you to some of the most reputable options and you can decide which will work best for you.
Before I begin I want to point out that these cards aren’t exactly made to maintain privacy.
Because these cards are dealing with financial institutions they must require certain forms of identification before allowing issuance of a card.
A few cards offer a non-verified option but this severely reduces the loading and withdrawing limits of the card to around $2,500 for the entire lifetime of the card, that is not a monthly limit.
Also I highly suggest only loading these cards with the amount that you are willing to lose, I say this because you are ultimately giving your Bitcoin to a third party for them to handle.
Many of these cards have a 3% international transaction fee along with an ATM withdrawal fee that varies from card to card and many have a maintanence fee, either monthly or annually.
Xapo:
One of the first Bitcoin debit cards that is available in most countries. A Xapo card will cost you $20 to obtain with a $12 annual fee. This card gives you the option to go unverified but again, this means the card’s lifetime is limited to $2,500
BitPay:
Only available for US residents with a physical address, a P.O. box address will not suffice for this one. BitPay costs about $10 and can be used internationally with a 3% fee for currency conversions. BitPay does not give you the unverified option.
Shift Card:
Perhaps the easiest card to use in regards of loading it with your bitcoin. This card is a part of Coinbase and lets you withdraw from your account there instead of having to send your bitcoin to a different location in order to load onto your card like the other options. Shift card is available for those residing in a majority of the U.S. states. The Shift Card does not charge a maintenance fee.
As with pretty much anything in this world, there are a few bad apples. So if you’re looking into getting one of these cards, here are some indications that it might not be a good option for you.
If you want to know what a bitcoin debit card scam looks like check out ExKash
Legitimate bitcoin debit cards must play by the rules of the major financial institutions, this means you pretty much have to submit forms of identification to get unlimited usage of the card. If a card promises zero verification and also unlimited loading and withdrawals, they are highly unlikely to be associated with any kind of legitimate backing.
Not to mention the fact that the website is full of grammatical errors and the reviews seem to be fake as well.
This topic was suggested to me by the Steemit user: @prep4shtf.
Thank you for your suggestion and if any of you are curious about a topic that I haven’t yet covered feel free to post it in the comment section down below.
Additional Reading/Sources:
99 Bitcoins Review, Plus Easy Compare Graph
CoinTelegraph Article: Understanding Privacy with Crypto Debit Cards
Xapo Website
BitPay Website
Shift Card Website
ExKash Scam Article
ExKash Website: For Viewing Purposes ONLY
Excellent guide @heidtravels, I have also gone thought many of these services to find the best choice for myself. However, 3% for spending internationally I think is just too much without taking into account other fees. There is got to be a better way. I think to cash them through localbitcoins is much cheaper. Oh VISA VISA VISA, such high commissions
You are beautiful! I love your vids! Keep up the good work!
Nice video... Your videos are the perfect length. Not so long that they become boring but long enough to provide some really good info.
Thanks for posting my suggested topic. I plan to use one of these options in the near future. The information you provided helps tremendously. You rock!
This is great! i was having trouble choosing a debit card. Anyone have any experience dealing with Coinsbank?
For how much I use Coinbase for some reason never heard of Shift card going to have to check that out. PS That place you are at looks beautiful!
This was filmed in Ubud Bali at the rice terraces. Really great place to visit to escape the craziness of traffic and noise pollution :)
If you like Indian food, I recommend Little India just a few blocks over from that field.
Just wondering, how much is steem helping in subsiding your travels? ;)
100%
I couldn't afford this without it.
I also have an account at Coinbase and have never heard of this card. Certainly going to give it a spin, thanks for the heads up!
I think this is just the start, more and more debit cards like this will surface in the future with cryptocurrencies becoming mainstream some day. Great Post cheers.
you're right; someone is going to crack the code and allow us to use several altcoins on credit cards as well - the future is bright!
Great Video. I'd like to get the shift card but i'm wondering how taxes work when you use these debit cards.
Do any of these cards require an SSN number?
:)
Indeed I'm trying to get rid of my prepaid travelcard and getting one of these.
I've been interested in Bitpay for a while. I'll be getting a card and most likely will invest in it as well. Thanks for your research and for sharing such valuable information with this community and the broader world.
Bali rox! :D This is fun crypto news for sure! :)
Wow what a High Steem power Upvotes
Awesome
TenX is a good one. Should check it out!
what do you think about TenX card?
Not sure, but we can use the wallet bar code and find other people with wallets.
We can sometimes skip cards and deal directly with crypto wallets and exchanges.
Joey Arnold Oatmeal
Soon I am going abroad myself, so it's a nice timing for this post. Thanks!
Excellent! Thanks for the great info.
Thank you for your post. This was one of the topics I was trying to research as I get my feet into crypto. Your post was very informative
Any reason you chose not to mention tenx pay? Very informative post btw, upvoted!
Thanks for the review! Any info on uquid cards? They promise to work with steem and other cryptos as well but I'd love to hear from someone who had experience with this card.
Useful, I'm still looking for a BTC debit card to my liking.
Let me ''slip'' this bit of info, it's from an email I've recently received from Wirex. ;-)
Awasome post
Love my Shift card!
How long have you been using it? What's your favorite thing about it?
I've had my card about 2 months, I love the convenience of it and that you don't have to transfer to use it.
Great! Have you ever tried Coinsbank debit card? What do you think about it?
Great overview!
I would add in some of the future projects like TenX, Tokencard and maybe Monaco although these projects have yet to pass all legal hurdles.
Glad you took the time to mention this Heidi!
I never try one myself, but for my next trip I should consider getting one ;)
@heiditravels - Xapo service is available in my country. Did not know they did debit cards to spend bitcoin! Thanks for this article. Will explore the options. Of course, I am a long way from having any appreciable bitcoin or Steem dollars but will work on it. Upoted.
Update at my end is that I am doing a 'Photospeak' series with my memories from Africa - with just a photo with minimal words - Letting the picture speak for itself mostly. I would be honored if you can take a look at Photospeak #1: Man vs. Nature and Photospeak #2: African landscape when you have time and provide your valuable comments. Thanks
I will need to look into the Shift Card again. Thanks Heidi for another good post.
Greetings Heidi! I am quite new with crypto technologies and I didn't even think you can just use atm to cash btc! I live not far from you, in Phuket, Thailand, traveling around as well :) Can any of those cards be ordered to ASEAN countries?
Thanks for the advice. Upvoted. Resteemed.
Joey Arnold Oatmeal
Interesting article. Did the cards you investigated only operate in the US or were they availiable to individuals based in Europe? Specifically the UK?
Great info, thanks for sharing your experience with us.
Awesome post for a great, and highly relevant topic. This has a lot of useful information. Thanks!
very interesting , much better than carrying cash everywhere ..
I am really looking forward to a day when I can travel with cryptocurrency as my primary. It would be so nice instead of exchanging and losing %.
Thanks for another awesome video!
We are huge fans of Wirex. I wish the customer service was better but they taken care of every problem that has happened over the last year.
Bali is really beautiful city......
Beautiful place
I think Bitpay card is now available in many countries!!
Awesome! Love it, @heiditravels!
I have recently been researching easy and quick ways of using BTC to pay for bills/amenities and I have come across a few cool websites, such as Bitrefill that allows users in 113 different countries to recharge their cellphone in a matter of 60 seconds for a very, very small fee. I have been searching for a quick and easy (private) way to buy the gift card type refillable Mastercards with BTC. You know, the ones that you can buy at pretty much any Wal-Mart in the US...But to no avail.
Any leads on something like that? I know of several giftcard sites such as Gyft or eGifter that are now accepting Bitcoin, but none of them offer the generic mastercard/visas that you can use anywhere.
amazing post girl !!
thanks for sharing @heiditravels
Very cool... I go and look this all :) Thank you!!
Hey @heiditravels, great information as always! I use Wirex Visa card and it's also a very good option but it's the same process with the proof of identity.
Greetings from Colombia, hope to see you soon blogging about our beautiful country!
YES! Shift Card is awesome. Easy to use and easy to set up. Thanks for this post. Glad to hear you are still in Bali. I was there for 9 days... and that wasn't enough time. :)
@heiditravels Great report. While you're in Bali, would you mind doing a report on the following?
https://newearthnation.org/groups/newearth-haven-bali/
excellent video thanks alot @heiditravels
I need a unlimited bitcoin credit card.. would take heidi on a first date❤️
you're always coming with some good information; I looked at Shift and didn't realize Bitpay had a card; thanks for the additional information as well!!!