The Curious Case of Awesome Bitcoin Debit Cards

How Wirex Makes it All Possible

There’s something MAJORLY lacking in the crypto industry and I feel it needs some traction getting built.

We all know that although the number of merchants accepting bitcoins is increasing steadily, it is a little difficult for a normal user to quickly spend BTCs on goods and services.

If you find a merchant which accepts bitcoins directly, then all is well and good.

Otherwise, buying something with BTC involves the tedious process of having to sell BTC on an exchange/OTC, withdraw the fiat, and then proceed to spending it.

Obviously this is not the way crypto-adoption permeates, and hence I think crypto-debit cards will be the next thing to create ripples (pun unintended) in this market.

Hence, I started looking at debit cards, and saw quite a number of players already in this market. TenX, Xapo, etc etc

However, this particular one caught my eye, and I wonder if anyone on here has used it ?

Its called WIREX, and the company allows both fiat and digital money to be loaded on its card. They also claim to be accepted by over 40 million merchants in 200 countries.

PHEW!!

For security, they claim to be PCI DSS certified, meaning the HIGHEST level of financial security standards.

The single most important thing when dealing with crypto is undeniably security, and with the world moving quick to adopt crypto, it’s no surprise that scalability will be marked by high security.

With this in mind, I deepened my research into Wirex debit cards that claim to combine high security with a range of features.

After all ! We need to be using crypto debit cards after a while amirite?

Anyway, not only does wirex seem to support 50+ cryptos, its app works in real-time with the card hence notifying users immediately about any suspicious activity.

Also, cards can be blocked the minute the owner senses something amiss. No need of calling the bank up lol. And if the card is found, its an easy unblock from the app itself.

The worst part of losing your bank card isn’t even cancelling it. It’s getting a new one. You have to wait several days to get a new card in the mail. In some cases (e.g. if you live in a rural area), you may need to wait weeks.

Until your new card arrives, you’re left without access to your money. Wirex, on the other hand, lets you connect up to six payment cards to your account. If you lose your plastic card and need to cancel it, you can still use your virtual card.

As of 2017, Wirex served more than 900,000 customers in over 130 countries. It has a pending e-money licenses in the United Kingdom, Singapore and Japan, with further offerings imminent in the USA and Canada.

Wirex achieved $1 billion of transaction volume in 2017.

In April 2018, Wirex announced contactless debit cards and became the industry’s first major wallet and card provider to add new Litecoin functionality, augmenting its existing Bitcoin and traditional currency capabilities, in recognition of the rapidly growing adoption of Litecoin as a payment method.

Budget Following

As they say, what gets measured gets managed. Wirex is perfect for those times when you want to get a sense of how much you’re spending or stick to a budget.

Load up your card with the amount you want to spend. Then keep track of how often you need to top it up. No more nasty surprises when you look at your bank balance after getting home from a night out or a holiday.

Spend Bitcoin online and offline for free

The normal cost of a Bitcoin exchange has, now and again, ascended as high as $162.

What’s more, the middle exchange affirmation time can be as high as right around 30 minutes.

Tolerance may be an uprightness, yet that is absurd. With Wirex, exchange expenses and hold up times will be the farthest thing from your psyche.

In the event that you’ve longed for utilizing Bitcoin for regular exchanges like paying rent or purchasing espresso, you’ll realize that high exchange expenses make that outlandish.

Up to this point, spending Bitcoin implied squandering gigantic measures of cash on exchange expenses.

This was the principle leap keeping digital forms of money from achieving standard reception.

With a Wirex installment card, you can spend cryptographic forms of money on the web or face to face with definitely no exchange charges.

We don’t charge you for utilizing your card, regardless of where you are or what you’re doing. You won’t see the distinction.

It’s similarly as speedy and consistent as utilizing your customary charge or Visa.

General information About Wirex

• The card can be funded from a bank account and one can top up using a debit, credit card or crypto wallet;
• If a client loses the card it can be blocked on the app, or if both the phone and the card are lost;
• The card is valid for 3 years;
• To be approved for the card you need to become a Verified user by submitting a proof of address, however, more information may be required depending on client circumstances.

P.s — I am no stakeholder of the project, but I write about projects I am deeply interested in.