Summary
Cryptopay offers
bitcoin visa debit cards. You can sign up and get a virtual card in an instant,
or order pin and/or chip plastic cards, which cryptopay will ship for free
worldwide. The cards come in EUR or GBP denominated cards with USD soon to come
according to the site. Cryptopay not only provides an extremely simple off ramp
for your bitcoin, it offers a new level of convenience for international
travelers, who can now easily convert bitcoin into multiple currencies, and
spend abroad with fees the same as local residents.
If we were to judge by
fees alone, and assuming that cryptopay does indeed integrate USD, Cryptopay
would probably rank as the best international bitcoin debit card out there.
However, the founders are somewhat unknown in the market and they have not
achieved any level of funding.
Security
Cryptopay has teamed
up with bitgo to offer an extremely secure bitcoin "FLEX" wallet.
Bitgo's multisig technology is widely thought to be the most secure hot wallet
solution on the market, utilizing a 2 of 3 signature methodology - in which
bitgo and cryptopay must both sign a transaction request, which are
automatically run through bitgo's standard fraud checks - prior to withdrawing
bitcoin from the wallet. This means that, in the event of a server side breach,
a hacker would not be able to transfer bitcoin out of the wallets without also
breaching the bitgo database. Or at least, that is how the argument goes.
How to Get a Card
After registering your
name and email, you'll be redirected to your accounts page, which lists the
amount in your balances - bitcoin, euro and pound sterling - and a button
offering the option to order a cryptopay card.
The order screen
offers the choice of physical debit and virtual debit cards, the former which
obviously requires inputting address details in addition to simply paying and
receiving your credit card number.
Once the card has been
ordered, you can go ahead and load it up from your bitcoin wallet.
How to use the card
Cryptopay is
essentially a prepaid debit card, similar in functionality to e-coin, but using
visa rather than mastercard, which is preferred by many. Once the card is
loaded, it may be used at any point of sale or ATM machine that accepts visa,
and performs exactly the same as a normal visa would. Nobody but you needs to
know that bitcoin was used to load up the card!
Cryptopay is a great
off ramp for those who would like an easy method of using bitcoin in their day
to day commercial dealings; however, where cryptopay and cards like it have the
ability to be truly disruptive, in our opinion, is in the convenience offered
for international travel. Essentially, users may order a debit card in the
currency of their destination and, once loaded, it will perform just as a
domestic card might. The ATM and POS fees are the same as those of a local
resident. Furthermore, you can throw the advanced planning out the window - no
longer must one determine where to exchange currencies and how much; which
credit card to use and which to leave behind - with cryptopay you can load up
the card at a flat 2.5% estimated rate whenever you want in seconds, and use it
like a local.
Fees
|
USD
|
EUR
|
GBP
|
Domestic Withdrawal
|
$2.50
|
€2.25
|
£1.75
|
International Withdrawal
|
$3.50
|
€2.75
|
£2.25
|
Point of Sale Charge
|
Free
|
Free
|
Free
|
Conversion Fee
|
3%
|
3%
|
3%
|
Monthly Fee
|
$1
|
€1
|
£1
|
Loading Fee
|
2.5%
|
2.5%
|
2.5%
|
Issuance Fee - Plastic
|
$15
|
€15
|
£15
|
Issuance Fee - Virtual
|
$2.50
|
€2.50
|
£2.50
|
Worldwide Delivery
|
Free
|
Free
|
Free
|
*Cryptopay advertises
a 1% loading fee - additionally, we have found that there is an approximate
difference of 1.5% between the rate at which cryptopay "buys" bitcoin
in the loading process and the price listed at the large exchanges. We include
this difference in the loading fee percentage above.
Limits
|
Unverified
|
Verified
|
Number of Online Purchases (day)
|
No Limit
|
No Limit
|
Value of Online Purchases (day)
|
No Limit
|
No Limit
|
ATM Transactions (day)
|
2
|
2
|
Limit per ATM Transaction
|
$€200, £160
|
$€1,000, £800
|
Max ATM Withdrawal (lifetime)
|
$€1,000, £800
|
No Limit
|
Max Load (day)
|
$€2,500, £2,000
|
$€20,000, £16,000
|
Max Load (lifetime)
|
$€2,500, £2,000
|
No Limit
|
Mobile
Unfortunately, you'll
have to do with a web-based mobile product which, to be fair, is nicely
optimized for easy loading.
Support
Support seems fairly
good compared to competition like Xapo, which is notoriously horrible, or
e-coin.io who also doesn't respond frequently. Immediately upon registration,
users will receive an introductory email from Aleksey, the client relationship
manager, who also endeavors to quickly respond to user queries.
Bottom Line
Cryptopay is basically
the same product as e-coin.io - same fee structure, same methodology, same
limits - except that is uses Visa instead of Mastercard which many will see as
a big point in its favor. On the other hand, e-coin has raised a modest
sum of money - $100,000 or so - and it's management team is a bit better known.
Both products are very good choices for multicurrency bitcoin debit cards
- assuming that cryptopay intergrates USD of course - and if you haven't
already, give one a try.
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