Coinbase Issues Bitcoin-Based Debit Card (coinbase.com)

Posted by Soulskill on Friday November 20, 2015 @08:21AM from the bits-of-coin-in-bits-of-plastic dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Coinbase, one of the largest bitcoin exchanges, introduced a "Shift Card" today, which is a Visa debit card that allows users to spend bitcoin wherever Visa is accepted within 24 U.S. states (other states are blocked by regulations for now). The card acts as a currency exchanger, debiting your Coinbase-controlled bitcoin wallet for an appropriate amount of bitcoins, based on market rates, while sending U.S. dollars to the merchant at the other end of the transaction. It represents a very simple way for bitcoin holders to spend it on real-world goods. That said, it'll be interesting to see how much adoption there is. If you prefer to keep full control of your bitcoin wallet, or prefer to keep your name from being attached to it, then the card probably won't work for you. It seems likely that most people who actually own bitcoins would fall into one or both of those categories.

2 of 52 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Step 1: Integrate with existing payment technology by kyubre · 2015-11-20 08:30 · Score: 3, Interesting

Step 1: Integrate with existing payment technology
Step 2: Replace existing payment technology.
Bitcoin is perhaps the wrong horse to be riding, but as a proof of concept this is sill interesting.

--
Nothing evolves faster than the word of god in the minds of men who think themselves divinely inspired.
Re:Step 1: Integrate with existing payment technol by gox · 2015-11-20 08:42 · Score: 4, Interesting

Actually I think these news prove that debit cards are getting better, rather than saying anything about Bitcoin.
I have a similar debit card (not Coinbase) which lets me spend out of my Bitcoin wallet, converting on-the-fly to target currency. The Bitcoin side of this is quite straightforward, but I am rather impressed that VISA allows this sort of automation.