Crypto cards may no longer be as widely available due to increased regulatory pressure, but they are still a viable alternative to using fiat money when only currency is accepted. With these, you can spend cryptocurrency without having to exchange it first, which is sometimes required when trying to pay with cryptocurrencies in a situation involving fiat cash.
How Do Crypto Cards Work and What Will They Offer in 2023?
Cryptocurrency cards offer the chance to use decentralized digital money to make payments in places where shops would typically only accept dollars, euros, or any other central bank currencies, even though they are not as quick as most in the crypto community would prefer.
Cryptocurrency cards are available in both physical, or plastic, and virtual forms, just like bank cards. The former can also be swiped or tapped at brick and mortar establishments that have point of sale (POS) terminals, while the latter can be used to make payments online.
There are various varieties of crypto cards that are a little different from the standard ones. For instance, credit crypto cards extend a credit line in cash using deposited crypto assets as collateral. Coins and tokens can be obtained as cashback or rewards on some fiat credit cards.
The crypto debit cards are the category that enables you to actually spend your virtual currency or withdraw cash from ATMs. These are connected to a cryptocurrency wallet and offer rapid conversion to fiat at the time of purchase or withdrawal at the current exchange rates.
Even while there are fewer new crypto cards being announced now than there were a few years ago due to the bear market and increasing regulatory attention, there are still a lot of viable options. These contain products from reputable platforms in the industry.
The top cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, Coinbase, offers a crypto card that lets customers use their preferred fiat cash, the stablecoin USDC, or one of the supported cryptocurrencies. The Coinbase Card is a Visa debit card that can be used by citizens of the EU and the United States, excluding Hawaii. As it involves the selling of crypto assets, Coinbase emphasizes on its website that using cryptocurrency in this manner is a taxable transaction. In that case, you might want to verify the laws and regulations in your area.
The largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Binance, planned to launch its Binance Card in 2020, but in August it announced that Visa had stopped issuing new co-branded cards in Europe and that Mastercard was ending its partnership with Binance for markets in South America and the Middle East due to problems with regulators and banking partners this year.
Bybit, a different well-known exchange, debuted a new cryptocurrency debit card in February. Several significant cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, including bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), and tether (USDT), are supported by the Bybit Card, a Mastercard. Customers living in the United Kingdom and several other members of the European Economic Area (EEA) can presently order it. Crypto.com and Kucoin are two additional exchanges that keep their own product lines.
While Nexo introduced a feature on its cryptocurrency card this year that allows you to toggle between a crypto credit mode, if you want to spend without selling your deposited digital assets, and a debit mode that lets you pay with euros, British pounds, and U.S. dollars and receive interest in fiat or tokens. Venmo and Gemini both offer credit cards with cryptocurrency cashback and rewards.
Among the pioneers in the market for cryptocurrency debit cards are Bitpay and Wirex. The American cryptocurrency payment processor Bitpay halted new applications for their prepaid Mastercard in May of this year. There are still physical and virtual cards available from Wirex. The business recently disclosed that it is getting ready to launch an app network dubbed W-pay, which will enable it to issue non-custodial cards.
Do you anticipate future crypto card offerings to increase? Comment below with your answer and let us know.