In the last few weeks I looked into crypto cards, because I was looking for a good card for traveling. This post is mainly about the more modern kind of crypto cards (tenx, monaco, tokencard). To be complete I also add a short backstory about classic cards that I looked at (but didn't get any of them).
Also, to be transparent, I invested in the ICO of Monaco and currently only holding MCO tokens (but planning to get some PAY as well). Even though I try to write this unbiased.
Classic bitcoin cards
I started with the older ones, bitcoin prepaid cards. A list of such cards can be found on cryptocompare.
In the end I didn't found any of those that had an advantage for traveling over my current fiat cards, since they all had the same international fees (e.g. 3% currency exchange and other fees).
For my use-case (travel) there was only one exception, that was Wirex with Free foreign currency transactions.
However, there are still a lot of other fees similar to other credit cards, also there is also some talk about them being a scam. I don't know if it's true or not (do your research if you're interested).
New crypto cards/apps/ICOs
I looked mainly at Tenx (PAY), Monaco (MCO) and Tokencard (TKN).
There are also some other ICO's that aim to release cards but with a slightly different focus (e.g. Bankera, Polybius, Karbon, Change). Those projects are still in too early states to judge them fairly.
Tokencard
Website: https://tokencard.io/
In my opinion it feels like an underdog to the other two.
Benefits:
- decentralized wallet
- multi-cryptocurrency support
Disadvantages
- The product itself seems very similar to Tenx (also card issued by WaveCrest) [TKN_1]
- Fees (1.5% ETH/REP, 0.5% TKN) [TKN_2]
- Whitepaper mentions a double spending issue at the beginning in case the ETH network doesn't respond within 300ms [TKN_3]
- Also there is little published information about the Team behind it [TKN_4]
Neutral
- the tokencard.io website is the only one of the 3 that doesn't enforce HTTPS. Which in my opinion is a no-go for any website that offers a product for handling money in any form.
TKN Token
- Price ~2 $
- Tokens: ~23.6M
- MarketCap: ~46M $
Notes
I personally don't see it as an option in its current state.
If that double spending problem still exists when it launches, it could be a PR nightmare for them and let the TKN value drop.
However, TKN might still be worth a gamble, since it's relatively cheap to buy, and might explode if there are some good updates (currently at 0.00039, it has some peaks over 0.0005, highest was around 0.0008).
Tenx
Website: https://www.tenx.tech
Benefits
- decentralized smart contract for wallet [PAY_1]
- No transaction fees [PAY_2]
- multi-cryptocurrency support [PAY_1]
- 0.1% cashback (in PAY) [PAY_1]
- strong team & supporters [PAY_1]
Disadvantages
- fixed fees (issuing + annual, however a small amount) [PAY_2]
Neutral
- merchant fee not clearly specified, some older posts indicate 2%. anyway, for the card holder there is no impact either way. [PAY_4]
- issues card via WaveCrest instead of directly [PAY_3]
- 0.5% cashback for token holders (in ETH) [PAY_1]
PAY Token
- Price ~3.5 $
- Tokens: ~104.7M
- MarketCap: ~365.8M $
Notes
I think a reasonably investment into PAY tokens might be worth it, if you trust the concept enough to hold them 1-2 years.
Monaco
Website: https://mona.co
Benefits
- No fees within limits (except 1% merchant fee, which doesn't affect a card holder) [MCO_1]
- $500'000 travel insurance (for premium cards only = deposit 50MCO for 6 month) [MCO_1]
- 0.75% cashback (in future they want to partner with merchants to get up to 10% cashback) [MCO_1]
Disadvantages
- centralized wallet
- transaction fees after limit [MCO_1]
Neutral
- no detailed travel insurance information/terms available yet
- VISA partner program still pending
- CEO was involved in a previous failed company named Ensogo (note: some ppl even think monaco is a scam due to this)
MCO Token
- Price ~9 $
- Tokens: ~9.8M
- MarketCap: ~88.4M $
Notes
Last week there was a 3x price increase of the MCO token due to the hype of the app release on the 31. August. It crashed since then back to the price of ~2 weeks ago mainly due to the missing VISA announcement.
The missing point is the VISA partner program, when this is done the card can roll-out.
When this happens, the MCO price might spike again. if you plan to get a monaco permium card, it might be worth it to buy the token now before any VISA announcement.
Summary
In my current opinion, the card with the best potential to replace existing debit cards is tenx.
It has good marketing, good reputation and a great technology idea.
However for cards that are mainly focused on travel or are rarely used, then monaco is my favorite.
Also as an option for ppl that prefer higher cashback over a decentralized wallet.
The main problem with monaco is the currently missing VISA approval, but should come this month. Also for some people the backstory about the CEO might be a red flag.
Similar overview of such cards can be found here:
Sources of Information
TKN_1:
https://medium.com/monolithstudio/wavecrest-partnership-announcement-733a8e6e5554
TKN_2:
https://medium.com/monolithstudio/tokencard-faq-c13d8157544f
TKN_3:
http://tokencard.io/tokencard_whitepaper.pdf (v1.0.5, page 24, 8.11.2 - "...TokenCard will take some risk from double spending as it functions at the necessary speeds")
TKN_4:
I checked the tokencard.io webpage, the liked monolith.ventures page redirected back to tokencard.io (on 2. September 2017)
But there are 3 names in the whitepaper and on https://medium.com/monolithstudio/about there are 3 additional names.
PAY_1:
https://www.tenx.tech/
PAY_2:
https://www.tenx.tech/fees.html
PAY_3:
https://www.tenx.tech/card-terms.html
PAY_4:
https://crushcrypto.com/analysis-of-tenx-ico/
MCO_1
https://mona.co/cards and https://mona.co/faq