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Bitcoin Debit Cards Suspended After Upstream Visa Rules Infraction (thenextweb.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the not-everywhere-you-want-to-be dept.

At least four pre-paid debit cards that accept cryptocurrencies abruptly suspended service on Friday. An anonymous reader quotes TheNextWeb: Speaking to their customers on Twitter, the affected companies have said the move is the result of actions from their card issuer, [WaveCrest], who was acting on behalf of Visa Europe... A statement from Visa Europe obtained by The Daily Beast reporter Joseph Cox said the action was taken due to WaveCrest's "non-compliance" with VISA's membership regulations... In its statement, Visa makes clear that this isn't a crackdown on cryptocurrencies, but rather action against one company that broke its rules.
"All funds stored on cards are safe and will be returned to your Cryptopay accounts ASAP," one of the affected debit card companies assured users on Twitter, adding "Sorry for all the inconvenience caused..."

According to the article, "Some users on Twitter are reportedly stranded abroad without funds."

9 of 76 comments (clear)

  1. Without "funds" by quonset · · Score: 4, Funny

    Some users on Twitter are reportedly stranded abroad without funds."

    If only there was some form of exchangeable item these people could use. Something accepted everywhere which could easily be carried on their person to pay for goods and services.

    If only such an item existed. That would solve their problem of having no "funds".

    1. Re: Without "funds" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You are obviously not a very seasoned international traveller. Glad to see youth understand so little about the world that they assume their US credit card and cash must be accepted everywhere.

      Get some sense.

    2. Re: Without "funds" by joe_frisch · · Score: 3, Informative

      If you travel a lot, you lean to have several forms of funds. At least 2 credit cards. Some of the countries local cash. Some of a major currency (Euros, Dollars, maybe Yuan).

      Its easy for any credit card to get canceled, always good to have multiples.

    3. Re: Without "funds" by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 2

      Where can you not use US currency? I mean, you may get hosed on the exchange rate, and you may have to find the couple of people in town who can accept it, but given a good amount of US cash (robbery concerns aside), you should be fine anywhere I can think of.

      --
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  2. Unreal by jwymanm · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's unreal how much anti crypto talk there is here. This used to be a site for nerds and now it's just frigging negative crabby assholes. Bitpay in the USA was not hurt by this it was the VISA partner in Europe that wasn't following rules. If it were a crack down on blockchain it'd be everywhere and every partner of VISA dealing with it.

  3. Re:Lies by cmseagle · · Score: 4, Insightful

    alternative payment systems that are superior to Visa in every way

    Except for processing speed, cost, merchant adoption...

    Doesn't the fact that Bitcoin holders want a Bitcoin Visa card indicate that there are at least some downsides of using Bitcoin as a day-to-day payment system?

  4. Re:If only bitcoin stayed to it's original purpose by Fly+Swatter · · Score: 2

    It's a research project that got out of hand and took on a life of it's own. Sort of like google search.

  5. It's a site for Nerds and... by SuperKendall · · Score: 2

    This used to be a site for nerds and now it's just frigging negative crabby assholes

    It's still a site for nerds.

    However it's also a site for people who like to get flogged by nerds. Some kind of sad-masochistic thing, I think... anyway those people come on, knowing their stupid ideas will get pounded by someone with a low-count UID and I think they look forward to it.

    Just ignore them and read the nerd posts if they bother you. Would be nice if we could sandbox them a bit though.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  6. Re:This is a good sign for Bitcoin by PPH · · Score: 2

    It just seems so dumb when compared to, say, selling 20 bitcoins for US dollars, putting the money in a bank, and then getting a debit and/or credit card.

    My reading of TFA leads me to believe that this is exactly what WaveCrest was doing. They were handling the Bitcoin to currency conversion and then loading the (Visa) debit cards with this currency.

    I guess we will have to wait and see exactly which rule Visa claims WaveCrest violated.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.