If you’re one of the lucky ones who aren’t on the waitlist anymore, then you’ve had the opportunity to claim your own Coinbase card. An amazing leap in innovation, you’re able to pay with any asset within your Coinbase portfolio for any transaction you wish, in-person and online. Not only that but, at the time of writing, you’re able to earn rewards for each transaction:
- 1% back in Bitcoin (BTC)
- 4% back in Stellar Lumens (XLM)
While it’s free to actually receive and set up your card, everyone has to make money. If you spend with USDC, you’ll have no fees for each transaction. What people forget to realize is if you purchase USDC on Coinbase, you are charged a fee for it. For example, if I try to purchase $200 worth of USDC on Coinbase, the fee is roughly $8, leaving me with $192 to spend on anything I want.
If you’re utilizing a different cryptocurrency for purchasing and ATM usages, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, there’s a flat fee of 2.49% per transaction. Of course, this may vary for users outside of the United States.
So, if I want to add USDC to my Coinbase portfolio, there’s a fee. If I want to complete real-world transactions with the card, there’s a 2.49% fee. Is it even worth it? Even with all the fees included, I’d still have to say yes! The ability to transact with actual cryptocurrencies is a major step towards the future of finance.
Not to mention, you can use it to purchase items from different countries without worrying about fiat currency exchange rates. Paying for a new pair of shoes or even gas for your vehicle, in cryptocurrency, is something we wouldn’t think was possible in the near future just a couple of years ago… and now we can actually do it.
Now… I know everyone is thinking, “Why would I spend money on additional fees when I can just spend my fiat currency and have more of it?”. It’s easy to get lost in the sea of transaction fees when making the switch to the Coinbase card. However, major credit card companies charge businesses a fee for utilizing a credit card, to begin with for any transaction… and guess what? The businesses aren’t the ones paying for it. You are!
We may not realize it but, when buying items with a credit card (ie gas/petrol), the price is a few cents more. This extra expense is to cover the credit card transaction fees charged by the card company. If businesses paid credit card fees for customers, their margins would shrink and profits would be lost. You’re already being charged these additional fees for transacting within your daily lives to cover these expenses.
There are many different options for cashback rewards from credit card companies. Why not make the switch to get rewarded in cryptocurrencies for your transactions? Personally, I enjoy the Coinbase card and I’m not all that worried about the fees associated with it. Regardless, the ability to earn crypto rewards with each transaction is far more superior to fiat currency rewards.
Who knows… that $100 worth of USDC purchase that earned you around $4 worth of XLM could turn out to be worth $8 worth of XLM with patience. The fees we are talking about are now becoming irrelevant! If you ask me, the Coinbase card is definitely worth it and I look forward to continuing to use it and see what other reward options become available for us. I think we can all agree that cryptocurrency is far more valuable than fiat!
I am not sponsored by Coinbase or any brands involved, although I wish I was!
Do you use the Coinbase card for transactions?
Let us know your opinion on it!
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