How do I spend my hard earned Steem ?

Of course I'd recommend you keep your Steem safely locked up in the Steemit world, (well at least some of it anyway), I go 50% 50% as default. But It is a good question and there are a number of ways to get your virtual currency into the real world of shops & paying bills if you really want to / need to. There is one easy way to get your hands on your money and it's with a bitcoin enabled debit card.

Virtual or Real plastic ?

These cards can be obtained as virtual as the altcoin they carry, (or fiat currencies too, they're not fussy,) with no physical presence at all. You can use these virtual cards in the same way you can use any debit card online. If you want to go actual shop shopping, Who does that anymore ? or pay for a meal out, now you're talking, or even Dare I say it, WITHDRAW CASH from an ATM ! you'll need a real physical, plastic card and you can have one of those too. Sounds good, do carry on ;)

How do I Pick one ?

(Read Reviews & Recommendations from trusted sources)

There are a number of players in the market and quite a few providers offering a range of services with a number of pros & cons. I've picked one which I think might suit a wide number of our Steemians for it's ease of use, transparency and 3 currency denomination. You can also load the balance from PAYPAL should that be of any use to you.

WIREX

Wirex offer a number of services related to bitcoin transactions. Their sales pitch goes like this. "Now everyone can get the best out of both digital and traditional money, the easy way! Get online banking account, worldwide-issued bitcoin debit cards, cheap money transfer and more in one place." Sounds quite good doesn't it.

Debit Card

They also say..."Free yourself from limitations of traditional financial services. No more bank fees, queues or closing hours, no lengthy application process and forms to fill. Get your Wirex Card powered by Blockchain and accepted by millions of merchants and ATMs today!"

The advantage they have over some providers who usually require verification before issuing a card, is that Wirex will issue a card for you (with limited usage) immediately and then you can get verified if you need to later. One of the pro's of this service is the easy sign up and immediate card issue. Some other providers require you to be verified before you order a physical card and it can take weeks for verification to be completed.

The App

Then all you do is either log in or download the wirex app and you've got 24/7 bitcoin to cash banking services in your pocket.. eat That Bruce Wayne (Batman)

If you would like to add funds using (your) bitcoins, transfer them from an external wallet into your Wirex bitcoin wallet. In the main account, go to 'Add Funds.' In the 'BTC' box, generate an address and transfer bitcoins to the address shown on screen. Then, select 'Load Card', located on the top bar

So for example you could easily transfer Steem Dollars to Bittrex, Cryptopia, etc then exchange for bitcoin and send straight to wirex. Then you can spend your blogdollars on whatver you fancy / need / outstanding bills.

Getting Verified

Wirex should only take a couple of days to verify your documents if you want the all singing dancing, big, mutli-spend ATM card. However, if they get really busy in the near future, this could increase, I don't know but at the moment it's only a few days.

Most purchases can be made with a debit card these days (that's unlimited & free on both unverified and verified cards) so for most people, an unverified card might be ok. Using the card to pay for things and services will save you $2.50 for the equivalent cash withdrawal. Just the same as when you take your bank debit card on holiday, with a similar foreign currency transaction fee of 3%.

Unverified Drawbacks on ATM Cash withdrawals

Unverified cards carry a limit to 2 ATM transactions @ $200 each transaction per day up to a total limit of $1000 over the whole lifetime of the card (3 years) So If you're planning to use it for cash, you'll probably want to show them some standard ID; a current drivers license / passport & a recent utility bill will suffice. This makes a big difference to your cash spend limits. (see table below for a full list of fees and limits)

What's the catch ?

The catch is simple. There are fees to pay but they seem quite reasonable. (full fee explanation in table above) The card issue costs $17 Standard Delivery or if you can't wait and want expedited, tracked delivery it's $50 . There are cheaper issuers of cards. Bitwala for example is only about $8 for the card issue, but you have to be verified first before you can order one and (in my opinion), although their fees are relatively inexpensive, their fee structure is not as easy to understand as Wirex. (

Dollars Euros Sterling

You can choose a card denominated in $ £ or Euros and they pretty much have the equivalent fee structure. The denomination is important if you choose a card because foreign currency transactions are subject to an additional fee (3%).

The Good News

Purchase transactions carry no fees ! nice move

No Purchase limits either (verified or UNVERIFIED) another nice move, fancy a new car ? house.. easy does it now

Maximum Lifetime Load to the card (3yrs) no limits !

How to Add Funds to Wirex Account

"Wirex makes online banking simple. Just get your free account, fund it using bank transfers or payment services like Paypal to load your account, and hold USD, GBP, and EUR on your cards as if they were bank accounts. You get international remittances, money transfers, and the easiest way to buy Bitcoin all in one account. Ready to make banking easy? Then pick your method, verify your account, and fund your Wirex account now!"

 

disclaimer

I am not actively promoting Wirex services over any other services. The information in this post is my own personal opinion & extracts (In Italics) from Wirexapp.com. I recommend everyone to conduct their own research before signing up to any financial services and not rely solely on the advice of others. Outerground