I think that Bitcoin debit cards are an awesome way to keep bitcoin liquid enough to pay for your morning coffee while taking advantage of the current insane price hikes. Cryptopay is one of about 5 or 6 such cards with some only serving the US. Cryptopay is one of the best and I have been using it personally for a couple of months now.
The Concept
Many know (but many don’t) that bitcoin has some issues when it comes to payments in real time. The block of the blockchain is set to ten minutes so the block chain could end up waiting for 10 minutes (worst case scenario) for verification that the trade is complete. Add to this some scaling issues, which are due to the large volumes of transactions taking place and that wait time can be considerably longer than 10 minutes. Up until the current time (May 2017) it has not been a catastrophic issue because very few places offer bitcoin payments, even online let alone on the high street. In the future those who buy bitcoin may be left scratching their heads on how to spend it.
Crypropay
Enter Cryptopay. You can add funds to this pre-pay debit card in the fiat of Euro, USD or GBP. Or, of course, bitcoin. The bitcoin is sent to an online cryptopay wallet which take as long as it takes (a couple of hours for 2 or 3 verifications in my case) and it stays in that wallet until you decide to load the card which is loaded with the currency of your choice instantly. I hope you are beginning to see how flexible an option this is. There is no need to load the card as soon as you get the bitcoin. You can leave it in the online wallet indefinitely and if you so choose you can send it to another bitcoin address. When you decide you want a cappuccino you can load the card with the requisite amount and pay instantly. There are charges of course but more on that later. There is a virtual card (€£/$ 250) for online payments as well as the physical plastic card I have used.
Conditions
Cryptopay offers free worldwide delivery for a cost for the card of €/£/$15. The card is a Visa card so can be spent anywhere Visa is welcomed. Because of “Know Your Customer" regulations and anti-money laundering laws they are required verify users for a full service, however there is still the option to remain unverified and accept some (between stringent and crippling) conditions. For example, in the US there is a lifetime ATM withdrawal limit of $1000 (unlimited for verified), maximum daily load is $2000 ($20000 for verified) and daily ATM withdrawal limit is $400 ($2000 for verified).
Value
Aside from the stated fees which don’t account for much (1% load fee, monthly service fee of €/£/$1) and the ATM withdrawal charge is quite high at €2.25/£1.75/$2.50 but consistent with some credit cards. In addition to this the spread between buy and sell is around the 3% mark, so if you had 1 BTC in the online wallet and loaded that onto your card then the dollar/euro/pound value would be depreciated by the 3% mark. Still, nowhere near as corrosive as a credit card.
Conclusion
The ability to keep value increasing bitcoin in an online wallet (and therefore keep wealth away from value decreasing fiat) until the precise moment that you need to use it could be a vital asset in uncertain economic times. Imagine the potentially life saving use in a Kenyan or Venezuelan inflation scenario. Of course you are dependent on the Visa network to effect transactions over the counter. As far as buying groceries and such like there is no difference to a credit card. Therefore, as far as I can see, no reason for not having one. Cryptopay has taken the course of keeping it simple. It is low on features but does what it does well. Frankly, that is something that I appreciate.
