Xapo Debit Card Update : First Impressions
the one they advertise
the one I received
I received my Xapo debit card yesterday via express mail. It was mailed to me by a card company based in Bristol UK. I went ahead and proceeded the activation steps on xapo.com and received my PIN code which I will be using with the card. I must say that I like the security features provided by xapo.
This morning I stopped by the local pharmacy- in Istanbul- to get few things and tried my new card :
Right after I entered my PIN on the POS device I received a message on my phone:
I chatted with the pharmacist a little about how it worked but he didnt seem to grasp it, he asked me if its a credit card, or bank, and if I pay it later... I told him its like having your liquid digital gold and I was spending few drops...
Thats pretty cool, but is it easy, and is it available all around the world!? And i imagine you can only use it at places that take bitcoins!? This is all kinds of new stuff to me! 😉😊👍
You keep bitcoins in your account, whenever and wherever you use your card just like any other visa card, corresponding amount of bitcoins is put aside by xapo until that transaction is settled. As far as the card owner is concerned the transaction is over since You get what you want, the rest is handled by xapo. I think employers should deposit salaries directly to the employees' xapo accounts. :) btw, if I am not mistaken the exchange to your local currency is calculated at the moment of the purchase , TRY-->USD $--->BTC .
Ok thanks for your reply, i dont know anything about bit coin and just learning, i dont know if this is available in Canada yet. Thanks
I think you load it in BTC and convert to different currencies. So in the shop when you use the card you spend fiat money. This is my understanding. This article hasn't fully explained it, but I have been looking into a card like this.
Are the fees on the card reasonable? I only have miniscule amounts of BTC at the moment, so I'm wodering if it would be better to wait until i have more funds available.
I am not sure for now , I think they make money of exchange rates, see the details above, I think at the moment of conversion the xapos' rate was little lower than the market rate. Basically xapo's network pays the merchant with fiat on card holders' behalf and puts equivalent amount of your bitcoins on hold, I think thats where its making the money. I will see if by the time I spend my bitcoin if its reasonable or not. But if bitcoins price in USD $ goes up, that would be nice...
thank you, I will look into it some more
Is Xapo still using mychoicecorporate as an issuer of their cards?
Are the cards branded finally with the Xapo style, or they are still with generic design?
See the uploaded the image of my card above, the card was mailed from the UK, I am not sure if they are related companies, but I havent seen the name you mentioned.
Yep, still the generic design, mine is the same... apparently still not started using their own branded desins for the cards. As for the company I've mentioned, look at the back of the card... :)
You are right 😀 I just noticed it.
Currently most of the companies issuing prepaid bank cards powered by BTC seem to use this company, at least for Europe...