First, we tried buying a coffee from café chain Pret a Manger using the card, but the transaction failed, so we were forced to pay in fiat, which wasn’t ideal.
In another shop, we used the self-service tills and the chip and PIN option wouldn’t work, so we had to swipe the card instead and sign a receipt, which was only a mild inconvenience. It was third time lucky, though, when we visited a branch of Costa Coffee. Here, we were able to pay with the card via chip and pin, experiencing no issues.
Viewing transactions
The Xapo wallet is easy to use, with a simple layout displaying all recent transactions. One thing that is a bit confusing is that some transaction amounts are displayed in ‘bits’ and some are displayed in ‘BTC’.
How it works
Until now, the only bitcoin debit cards in circulation, such as those offered by Coincard and Cryptex, were slightly less practical. Instead of funds being taken straight from their bitcoin wallets at the time of a transaction, customers had to top-up their card beforehand.
This effectively meant that they had to manually convert their bitcoins to fiat currencies before being able to purchase anything. In Xapo’s case, the company does the work – when someone tries to make a purchase or a withdrawal using the card, the transaction is directly forwarded to them.
From there, it is established whether the user has enough bitcoin in their wallet or not, and if they do, Xapo immediately sells the corresponding amount of bitcoin via bitcoin exchange Bitstamp.
The merchant then receives the payment in their local currency. The only thing the customer has to do then is make sure enough bitcoins have been transferred from their Xapo storage vaults to their wallets.
Improvements on the way
According to the Xapo website, the My Choice card design is only temporary, as the current cards are part of an existing program. The next batch of cards will be Xapo-branded, and will clearly show that they are “international bitcoin debit cards”.
It may also become possible to have more than one card linked to a bitcoin wallet, if there is enough demand for it. The company hopes that it will soon be able to send its cards to the US and India, where they are currently not supported, because of an issue apparently linked to My Choice.
In a follow-up email to US-based customers signed by chief strategy officer Ted Rogers, the company elaborated on the issues, suggesting that less than 24 hours after the first cards shipped, it was notified it would not be able to extend the offering to those regions.
As a token of appreciation to US customers, Xapo said that US-based card users would not be charged the $15 fee in connection with the card, and that $25 in BTC would be gifted to their accounts.
We contacted My Choice’s parent company Wavecrest Ltd for comment, but they did not respond before publication.
Disclaimer: This article should not be viewed as an endorsement of any of the companies mentioned. Please do your own extensive research before considering investing any funds in these products.
Images via CoinDesk
bitcoin debit cardXapo
Original author: Marie Le Conte