Bitcoin, Dash Can Now Be Spent at 40 Million Stores Worldwide, Thanks to Wirex Debit Card
Digital currency could quite possibly be transformative, providing a paradigm shift in the world’s interactions with money and finance. As Jihan Wu, CEO of Bitmain, recently blogged:
“[Bitcoin] essentially rolls gold, cash, and our credit card system into one. It takes the strengths of each and leaves the weaknesses behind. It has the limited supply quality of gold, but can be used to purchase everyday items. It has the speed of a credit card, but respects and protects your privacy. Transactions are settled instantly like cash, but are recorded on a public ledger.”
Accessibility
Bitcoin and other digital currencies are seriously lacking in one vital area: accessibility. It’s prohibitively difficult for new users to obtain cryptocurrency. An individual who wants to obtain a small amount of Bitcoin would probably find even the easiest route to be rather challenging.
Setting up a Coinbase account would be relatively simple in itself, but then the person must link either a credit card or bank account. Depending on several factors, the purchase may be instant or may require several days for an ACH transaction to be processed. Our new user now owns some shiny new Bitcoin...and probably has no clue what to do next.
Buying larger amounts of Bitcoin is even more difficult, requiring users to go through an extensive process to comply with “Know Your Customer” (KYC) and “Anti-Money Laundering” (AML) laws. This involves submitting numerous personal documents such as driver's licenses and utility bills, then filling out a long questionnaire and awaiting approval. Such users must then figure out what wallet they want to store their currency in, and wrestle with issues such as two-factor authentication and the like.
For users wanting to purchase altcoins (outside of Ethereum and Litecoin), they must do all of the above, then transfer their Bitcoin to another exchange. There they will likely repeat the same KYC/AML process, and only then will they be allowed to trade their Bitcoin for their favorite altcoin.
Selling one’s digital currency for fiat is even more difficult, as doing so nearly always requires AML/KYC verification and additional hoops to jump through. Very few retailers accept even Bitcoin, much less less-known altcoins, so using one’s digital currency to directly purchase product is prohibitively difficult.
Bitcoin ATMs
Over the past couple of years, several solutions to this vexing difficulty have been attempted. The first such attempt was the creation of the Bitcoin ATM. This machine is similar to the bank ATM that we are all familiar with. A user inserts some cash and receives a printed paper wallet which holds their new Bitcoin purchase.
Bitcoin ATMs are expensive, however, and are only suitable for areas with high levels of foot traffic, a sophisticated tech-savvy user base, and reliable Internet access. In some jurisdictions, AML/KYC questionnaires are still required, and many ATMs are merely one-way, as they lack the ability to convert Bitcoin to cash. Thus it remains even more difficult to get fiat money out of cryptocurrency than into it.
Debit cards
Recently another solution has emerged: the Bitcoin debit card. Users deposit Bitcoin in the debit card provider’s web wallet, and they receive an ordinary looking Visa card. When the swipe the card at a retailer’s point of sale, the appropriate amount of Bitcoin in their wallet is immediately sold, converted to cash, and then the cash is sent to the retailer as payment. This all happens in seconds, allowing the transaction to be completed as quickly and seamlessly as an ordinary debit card transaction.
Attempts to integrate Dash
While many digital currencies focus on more arcane areas such as smart contracts, tokenization, or the like, the digital currency Dash has always focused on payments. The name Dash is itself a portmanteau of the words “digital cash.” Founded by Evan Duffield in 2014, Dash aims to promote faster transactions with its InstantSend technology.
Wow, its nice to hear that BTC and Dash are more easy to spend now. With the use of cryptocurrency outside of the market, we can see mass adoption hopefully in the future.
There's nothing great than that
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