On a day when we have reached 30K BTC for realz (not for fake ETF news) after almost 2 months of being under, I have to share some bad news with you guys... Well, it's not that bad, but it is a continuation of the constant pressure on crypto in general... I was the owner of the Binance VISA card for years and it served me well, but I will have to say goodbye to it as they will be "banned" from the EU from December, 20th! Merry Christmas! 😒
The bad news came today in my email inbox which I didn't believe at first sight as I thought that it was just one of those annoying, phishing emails that I receive on a daily basis... The subject of the email was: You will no longer be able to use your Binance Visa Debit Card from 20th December 2023
Created in Canva.com
That was a cold shower as I am using the card regularly for my daily purchases... I was expecting something similar a few months ago when Binance was pushed to the wall by the US authorities, so I have ordered a "backup" card for my wife but for another company... It looks like I will look for another option for myself in the next month or two... If you are in crypto, you have to have a Plan B(itcoin) 😂 But, seriously, you gotta have at least 2 ways how to withdraw crypto if you are living from it...
So, what does it mean? It means that the bank that issues these Binance VISA cards (UAB ”Finansinės paslaugos ,,Contis“, part of the Solaris Group) will not support them anymore... I suppose that they were threatened to do so, as it usually goes with crypto, but that's just my speculation... Anyways, all other functions of Binance should work normally and if you want to withdraw money, I suppose that SEPA transfers and transfers to other VISA cards should work... Also, you can withdraw your crypto to other accounts (external wallets) normally...
All in all, it's not that bad news, but I did like the VISA debit card as that was the easiest way to spend my earned crypto, without the hustle of bank transfers and additional fees... If you have some good experience with crypto debit cards, please let me know in the comment section... I was using a Binance, Wirex card (which doesn't work in the EU either!), and TAP card (still works, we will see until when)... So, if you know of some other that you have tried, please let me know! Thanks!
You can check out more about this unpleasant news here...
Thank you for your time,
~ph~
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I have been using my Coinbase card for a while now which is super handy. I mostly use it for eating out or whatever, and it pays me back in different crypto. But it is always in the back of my mind that at any time it could go away.
It is nuts how hostile the US government is toward cryptocurrencies. I feel like it is one of these things where they'd love to make it illegal, but then get FOMO because the rest of the world would still have it.
Unfortunately, the Coinbase card isn't available in Europe... 😒
And I do agree that at any time it could go away... I have a Wirex card too, and it just stopped working in the EU a few months ago... They said that they would change a bank and they would work, but that didn't happen...
So, in some way, the thing with Binance was expected to happen, especially because of the pressure that was happening in the US, which is always flowing into Europe... Unfortunately, I think that the EU and the US are working together on this... 😒
Yeah I think you're right man... I hate to be a conspiracy theorist but my gut feeling is that these guys just hate the idea of a currency that is beyond their control to fully manipulate. Although you could argue that they do manipulate it by causing the price to crash by threatening legislation.
But we all know that behind closed doors these same governments are buying up BTC as they price manipulate it.
Yeah, too bad about Coinbase, I should have guessed it was US only.
It's too bad that they are closing down to the EU regulations. If it's that bad over there, it's probably worst here in the US, but I am used to using a traditional bank here. My crypto investments tend to be separate to my crypto ones.
It's not "that bad" here, but it goes toward that... And in the US, I think that Binance is completely shut down...
It's not a bad idea to separate crypto from other stuff, but I'm in a position where I'm trying to live from crypto, which means that I can't separate things... :)
I never used such cards as i didn't go in the details of using these cards but I purchase stuff with crypto by using direct p2p with merchant who accepts crypto too 😃
That's the best thing! To use crypto directly... Unfortunately, I have to use my crypto debit card to purchase groceries and everyday stuff for the house...
Sometimes i think maybe using cards are easy in purchasing but yes now I feel easy too in using p2p
Binance isn't available in my region so I am using Crypto.com for my crypto related stuff and a few others as well.
!LUV
Can you share your experience with a CDC card? Do you use it on a regular basis? How about fees, rates, crypt-fiat?
Which other cards do you have?
Sorry for the many questions, but that's how I get my data... :D
Hmm I used it to take public transport like the bus and train. I am at the Indigo tier, so I get 2% rebate in CRO for my transactions. I use the traditional banks' cards for other purchases because they offer better rewards, e.g. cashback (in fiat). It's a debit card so I need to top up fiat before I am able to transact - so far there are ways to do so without fees.
I use crypto.com to DCA my BTC, no fees as well when from transferring fiat from my selected bank account to crypto.com. As for the buy/sell on the app, there are "no transaction fees" unlike some platforms but their bid/ask spreads are not very competitive so I guess that's where they make the profit. But I am ok with that - custody/security is more important than solely going for the "cheapest" platform. They have also their own Exchange and DeFi wallet but I hardly use those functions.
Oh, okay... Thanks for sharing your experience!
I thought that you said that you have more different crypto cards, except the Crypto.com card...
Cheers!
Got the email too. I thought it would come because of the new users from UK news recently. But I didn't expect it to come this quick. Its not the end of the world. Like your said, it's just the convenience of it. Let me know if you find another option.
Yeah, it sucks, but there will be other solutions...
My wife has a TAP card, which I have mentioned in the post... I don't like fees, but it works... https://www.withtap.com/card
Hm, I have some issues with Binance anyway. I'm using Bitstamp all the time but I'm not sure if they provide debit cards... probably not. But the transfer to my bank account worked smoothly.
Bitstamp was my first ever crypto exchange that I used, while there were owned by Slovenian guys :) But, they don't have a debit card...
@ph1102 - I got the answer -
That's an interesting and useful information!
Thanks!
One Hivean works there, I could ask him about that :)
Did you try the CDC card? I have it but dont really use it.
I was avoiding it for some time, especially when they had some financial troubles, but I know that @gadrian also mentioned them... Will have to check alternatives and reconsider crypto.com
I still use them. Hopefully, they won't go the same route as Binance with their Visa cards in the EU. I'm sorry for people who had Binance Visa cards. Personally, I had a glitch with that and never bothered to dig deep enough to solve that and get my Binance card.
To be honest, I'm not too fond of Binance in general, but the card and very low fees were great... But, it's time to search for other solutions...
I'm coming to crypto.com! Watch out... I hope that I will not shut down them too... 😂
LOL! So, you are the one behind Visa's decision regarding Binance cards, huh? 🤣
I hope so too! I don't have another crypto card, so "behave nicely", my friend, lol!
Just read the news. I don't think that the card is widespread in my country. Someone(s) threatened Mastercard Inc. and Visa Inc. 😄
Yeah... As @blind-spot said, it was expected... They turn off one, other 2 pop-out... hehehehe... THere will always be a way... :)
Oh, that’s a shame! I had one of those cards too, although I’ve never used it to be honest. I get my money in and out, I’d usually do p2p to/from my Revolut card from Binance. There is also Plutus card that I ordered, but never used 🙈 I hear it’s quite convenient and you can get a cashback for using it, but yeah, I never tried 😉
hmm... So you are withdrawing FIAT money from Binance to Revolut? And that Plutus card is a crypto card and it works in the EU, or you didn't try it at all?
Sorry for the additional questions... 😃
Hey! As I also got that cold shower, I am looking for alternatives too. I've been using for some time the Binance card as yourself, for grocery shopping and I enjoyed the 2% cashback for holding a bit more than a couple of BNB. Lol, that was the only reason to hold this volatile coin... Probably I will go with a crypto.com card too but first I will talk to a guy who I think uses it.
By the way, I checked that Plutus card side, but it seems a no-go for me as:
"Crypto
Feature currently unavailable
Convert your PLU or ETH into a spendable card balance."
It appears to be a regular prepaid fiat-only card this way, at least for the moment.
Coinbase also removed their cards for EU, now only for US.
I'm leaning toward a crypto.com card too... At the moment... Also, I checked that Plutus in the meantime and found some ugly things on the YT, so will probably skip that one...
We have almost 2 months more to find another solution and I will take my time to find some... When I order the next one, will try to not forget to create a post about it... ;)
I'm looking forward for the outcome of your research.
Also, I kept researching about crypto.com and the one-sided cut of the staking rewards they did in May 2022 and the outflow of supporters. Since then, the CRO prices have been low, as far as I see.
Have you considered than Zen card that has zero withdrawal fees, that Binane is pitching silently? I suspect this is the real reason for canceling the visa card programme as Zen cards issuer comes from the same country ;)
Now you gave me some homework... 😃
I'm not into the "earning from rewards", but more about having a card that works most of the time and that has some normal exchange rates... Don't care about the CRO token as I don't plan to use some mega-card from their offer... I had a negative experience with Wirex and their token, and I think that the CRO isn't far away from that one... Tokens lose value, I use value... no thanks... 😃
Regarding the ZEN card, that was new to me, so I did some research on them... The offer looks great and juicy, YT reviews are just a few, and those are paid promotions, so I don't trust them at all... And then... I checked their Twitter account which has a very low number of followers + was scrolling their posts and comments from people... A lot of angry people complaining about their customer support... Which compared to the number of followers is a significant number of complaints...
Search continues...
Thanks for suggesting stuff!! Really appreciate it!
Staking the equivalent of EUR 350 CRO for 180 days is what I don't like and I would go with the red card as all the cards have 1% topup fee and only a cashback could compensate that. A half an year is too much in the modern dynamic world we live in.
Or I just withdraw to Revolut or any other visa card and save myself the troubles and the risks and the extra efforts & transfer fees as Crypto.com does not utilize HIVE, so there will be gas and trading fees adding to that.
You're right about the ZEN card, I feel something is slightly off about it and of course, Binance will introduce fees at some point, that is for sure.
Also, I forgot to mention, Binance support SEPA withdrawals to VISA cards too.
It doesn't come for free though, the fee is 2%.
So, the calculation is this - instead of 2% cashback, we get 2% fees if we go this way. That's 4% on top, sort of speak. It seems Binance are ready to loose 1% of their customers... As they claim 1% of their users actively use the card.
Yeah, I mentioned that in the post... but didn't emphasize it a lot...
Hey! I’m so sorry, this comment has skipped my attention 🙈 To be honest, I never withdrew any crypto, but I’m assuming if I’m buying from Revolut using p2p, it works exactly the same way in the opposite direction, although I never tried. Just looking at the interface I assumed so.
The Plutus still lays on my desk somewhere never used 🙈 I know I had to add £20 to order it and I’ll be able to spend this, but never tried either. I’ve got 3 weeks off in December and hopefully will look into all those things piling up that I never have time or energy to do while I work.
Did you find some worthy alternative to your Binance card btw?
!PIZZA
I think I have checked Plutus, and 2-3 other crypto companies that offer the "prepaid card" option (that's what they call these crypto debit cards), but I didn't like any... lol... I have read many reviews, comments, and videos, and if I see that such small companies have a strong, negative vibe, I stay away from them... Mostly, problems with bad customer support, closing accounts, etc...
In the end, I opened yesterday crypto.com account and will probably order their card... As I don't care too much about the buyback rewards, it should work fine...
Thanks for the info!
No worries, I’m glad you found something. Crypto.com was another one that my friend recommended, but I never got round to opening account there. I’m not really in a position to be spending my crypto just yet, so for now it’s really a pointless exercise. By the time I’m ready there probably will be many other options 😉
The card is not even common in my country
I have never seen someone who has it, lol
We ain't taking it seriously
Maybe it wasn't available in your country at all...
!BEER
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BEERKING.The way we've been seeing such crises on Binance for a long time now, it's a good thing that whoever owns it is handling them well, or else this exchange is going to collapse. But we will see that he is a wise man and in the coming bull market we will see that people will benefit greatly from him.
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