Bitflyer, the largest Japanese Bitcoin exchange in terms of volume, has released its own prepaid Visa card. The cards will be able to be funded in BTC through the exchange itself or other Bitcoin wallets. Bitflyer's Bitcoin prepaid card will be denominated in Japanese yen and its users will have to take into account relatively low deposit limits. However, this is yet another step towards global cryptocurrency adoption.
Bitflyer is not the first exchange to offer its own payment cards to be topped up with cryptocurrencies A similar card is offered by BitBay in cooperation with Mastercard. They are most often presented as an alternative to regular withdrawals from the exchange. For some people, it can also be a way to realize the profits from cryptocurrency investments.
For shopping.... limited shopping
According to the information available on the Bitflyer website, the card will be issued free of charge and there won't be any annual fee. Bitflyer users will be able to top up their cards online with their exchange account or via a mobile app. The card balance is displayed in yen. Those who want to pay with Bitcoin in shops using Bitflyer card will have to keep in mind the load limits.
The card can be loaded with only 30 000 yen ($266) at once, while the monthly limit is 120 000 yen ($1 065). However, the most disappointing aspect can be the lifetime load limit, which is set at one million yen, i. e. ~8 900 USD. Given the Japanese prices and the fact that the card balance may not exceed 100 000 yen, the new payment tool will have a fairly limited use.
BTC Payments around the world
As usual in such cases, the new Bitcoin prepaid card by Bitflyer was developed in cooperation with the external card issuer - Vandle. Although this imposes a number of constraints, it also allows for global application. According to the issuer, Visa prepaid cards from Vandle are accepted by more than 40 million merchants in 200 countries.
It isn't the first time that Vandle has cooperated with the cryptocurrency exchange to enable Bitcoin payments. All issuer's cards can be loaded with BTC via another exchange, Coincheck. Bitcoin's owners are thus getting more and more opportunities to spend it without having to transfer funds to their bank account in advance.
Bitcoin prepaid card - alternatives
At present, people who want to shop using their BTC have several options for doing so. For a long time, there have been cards available on the market from companies such as Cryptopay, SpectroCoin or BitPay. European crypto-payments fans may be interested in Xapo, while altcoins owners may be interested in the Uquid card. Another interesting product is the Shift Card connected with Coinbase account. It differs from other cards of this kind as it is not prepaid and currency conversion to BTC takes place at the moment of payment.
Thanks to ICOs, recently there has also been a great deal of publicity around the new wave of bitcoin payment card projects, which have a different approach to paying for purchases in BTC, ETH or other tokens. TenX and Monaco are among the closest to launching their products. The first one already has a functional product and according to the materials provided, TenX cards will allow you to pay without any problems, even in McDonald's. Unfortunately, the global development plans of both cards may be slowed down by the reluctance of giants such as Visa.
Revolut, known to some people as a card issuer for transactions in various currencies, is also trying to enter the cryptocurrency payment world. It already has hundreds of thousands of customers and an operating infrastructure, so it is expected to further develop cryptocurrency payments. So if you need a Bitcoin prepaid card, you can choose from a variety of options.