First let me start out by saying that Bitcoin is here to stay! The transfer of wealth is in full effect and the ground swell is growing. Thousands of merchants are accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment, but I've found a way to use a more mainstream approach, using a Bitcoin Visa Debit Card. That's right, storing my money in Bitcoin and spending as needed. Below is an in-depth review of what I consider the top 4 options for US residents. I was mainly looking at features such as, when is my Bitcoin converted to USD when making purchases? For example if I load Bitcoin on the card, does is convert to fiat right away or at the time of purchase. Also, fees schedules and whether or not the VISA logo would be displayed on the card was of importance to me. This is muy importante because Bitcoin rises and falls all day!
All these choices, none are just right and I would rather not have my Bitcoins on an exchange. Shift, just like Coinbase makes the process straightforward though. However, before I dive in, I can't stop wondering, what happens when BTC/ETH/LTC is mooning or falling and Coinbase has one of its regular network access issues. Can I get my shit? dunno. The plan is to try out Coinbase's Shift card with a little loot and also try the BitPay Card with a little loot and see how it goes.
With BitPay, it requires management. For example, if you are concerned with price fluxes, you can store your Bitcoins on the wallet app and then transfer them to the Bitpay card. So each time you are making a purchase you would be sending Bitcoin to the card, waiting then buying. Here you have full control of your private keys and therefore your Bitcoin. You could potentially just have situations where your about to pay for dinner, gotta get on the app, send Bitcoin, wait then pay.
We will see, I plan to publish a follow-up article to let you know how this experiment went.
For those in the UK or Latin America, Bitwala, Cryptopay, Satoshi Tango & UQUID are worth a look.
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