Wirex Petition For Australian Dollar Support Gaining Traction: Some Exciting Updates This Week On Our Efforts To Push For A Bitcoin Backed Card For Australians

in #teamaustralia7 years ago

Good morning #teamaustralia!

We're pushing for a bitcoin powered card for AUD transactions & your signature will help. Spare 2 minutes...

I have an exciting update on my online petition for the adoption of AUD for a bitcoin backed card issued by Wirex . I've been pushing for this for around four months now ...

...so first a recap


A tip for those who are excited as me and just want to get to the update: scroll down to the header "now the news"!

There’s precious little in terms of choice when it comes to “debanking” options for Australians. For those unaware of the term, debanking refers to an individual’s ability to remove themselves as clients of the banking system and all the restrictions that it entails.

For now, the majority of Australians are tied to a system of employment whereby currency is earned, taxed and deposited into a bank account but there are options regarding what those funds can then be used for.

Wirex is a company that offers a card akin to a normal bank card with the important difference being that it is able to be funded via bitcoin. This is an important feature as it provides the ability to free ourselves from bank issued cards when transacting.

Unfortunately, Wirex currently only provides support for USD, GBP and EUR accounts which means that transactions made on these cards in any other currency attract a 3% currency conversion fee. This is a cost prohibitive issue.

Show your support here!

This petition is to illustrate to Wirex the level of demand for Australian Dollar support in the hope that they will introduce a card denominated in AUD. This would provide a significant improvement in transaction freedom by allowing Australians to convert their earnings into bitcoin and then essentially use that to spend with a card.


After posting a number of times in an attempt to garner support I've been posting regularly over the months including here, here, here with an update, here targeting new #teamaustralia members and here with a post I was particularly proud of targeting the use of such a card for travelers.

now the news


It turns out these efforts have been noticed and thanks to your support, I've been contacted during the week by Wirex and have been told that our Steemit activity has been noticed and presented to the decision makers at Wirex and have resulted in the AUD being regarded as a priority for new currency adoption. I've also been told that there may be scope for me to participate in facilitating this process a little and I've informed them of my availability for such a purpose!

Nothing concrete yet guys but this does all sound promising. Now is the time to ramp up our efforts while the interest is there. If you haven't already done so I appeal to you all to check out the petition, here for maximum exposure.

Show your support here!

Please resteem and share this link as the more support we can get, the more chance of this becoming a reality for us. Tell your friends, tell your family, let's push to make this happen for us here in AUS.

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IMPORTANT NOTE

(& I'm all with you on this.) However, the bit about unbanking with wirex isn't 100% accurate and there are a number of costs incurred.

Quote

"This is an important feature as it provides the ability to free ourselves from bank issued cards when transacting."

A bank does issue the card on behalf of Wirex. it's a pre-paid, backed by Visa, bank card. Wirex is a card linked exchange.

Feel free to read the smallprint if you don't believe me.

..and I agree 3% is way too high a price to pay for the privilege of exchange.
though Wirex is generally a very well run outfit. (See my review) it works out that you pay multiple fees which banks don't charge for;

  • a fee for the plastic card (online virtual card is free)
  • a monthly fee for the card
  • (usually) an exit exchange / withdrawal fee from BTC
  • wirex exchange fee = how wirex make their money
  • & card spending fee = how the card issuer makes their money

you don't get interest on balances either, but is a bit of a moot point considering most banks are paying the absolute minimum.

All said, there are multiple card issuers for bitcoin cards but Wirex is trusted and rated. Without verification, limits are strict.

Hey @outerground thanks for the comprehensive comment. You're on point and I should ammend my blurb. I personally am interested in dispensing of my bank issued card and replacing it with an offering like what's described here. I appreciate that the very nature of the POS (point of sale) terminals as bank issued devices require the bank infrastructure to an unavoidable extent for now but believe in supporting these burgeoning alt card companies as a force for good in the arena of finance.

Agree on the fee comments, certainly at this stage we adopt this tech at a financial and convenience cost. This we have to evaluate for ourselves. Tenx seem to have a better fee structure but seems to me to be in its infancy. Thanks for keeping the feet to the fire 👍

pleasure's all mine @nolnocluap (great name btw) Crypto is a journey and I think (we) collectively speaking are like pathfinders. Like all early adopters, (we) tend to pay the price for having it first, helping improve service and encouraging competition and then later benefiting from when it all does get better / easier / cheaper. Thanks for the heads up on Tenx.

That's a great way of putting it @outerground. Trend setters, paving the way!

pioneers ! brave adventurous pathfinders :) goldminers

This is already available via the TenX card.

Hey @lucky.digger. yeah tenx looks neat. I especially like their coffee with ethereum demo video. I'm not sure about the service as it stands now however. You need to download an "unreleased" dev version of their app and enter your KYC details to order a card. Then you're told that cards are out of stock and proceeding will result in the card charge being billed and you added to a wait list. Seems a nascent product but agreed it has potential. Wirex is much more established albeit with a more costly fee structure so it's all about choice. The more AUD options there are, the better it is for the consumer. Thanks for the comment 👍

Awesome work mate, resteemed!

Thanks mate!

This is great, I just signed the petition. I've been looking for Bitcoin accounts that give you spending power on the high street so I hope this succeeds.

I ended up setting up a Coinjar account also because they have an Eftpos card you can order for $29 which allows you to buy groceries, petrol shopping etc. from your bitcoin account.

Have you tried that and is it any good?

Thanks for your support @angusg! Yeah heard of Coinjar for sure but dont have an account. TenX is another alternative. You'll have to let us know what you think of it. At the end of the day I think we will all benefit as consumers by having more choice 😉

I also have just joined Coinjar for that same reason. I needed to get started with Bitcoin so I could buy some Electroneum. At this stage, I have not got the card. I will in the future.

8 ) infinity happiness

Thank you for your service.

I only hope I can facilitate improvements for the community @mattclarke. Thanks!

Have signed petition...good to see it has been noticed and being reviewed

Very much appreciated @wakeupworldnews

Upvoted and resteemed. Great initiative.

Thank you for your support @banglasteve!

This post received a 20% vote by @mrsquiggle courtesy of @scooter77 from the Minnow Support Project ( @minnowsupport ). Join us in Discord.

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Great post. I'm Following. Please follow me...

Thanks for your support @jiehasand

This is awesome news!

Hopefully it'll end up providing choice for Aussies @choogirl, thanks!

Upvoted and resteemed.👌