The much awaited bitcoin debit cards from Xapo are finally out. The Switzerland based bitcoin wallet and vault services provider has had these debit cards in its pipeline for a while now, until its recent launch. But not all Xapo users are a happy lot due to the geographic limitation of these cards.
Xapo has been claiming that their soon to be launched bitcoin debit cards can be used across the world at any Point of Sale (POS) or regular ATM terminals for making payments and withdrawing fiat currency from their bitcoin balance. But now, the company seems to have made some drastic changes to the regions of operation due to regulatory issues which has made them abort the idea of shipping these Xapo bitcoin debit cards to the United States. Some of the other countries in the list includes United States Minor islands, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Virgin Islands, Vietnam, Vanuatu, US Wallis and Futuna, Western Sahara, , Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe and most of the Asian countries.
Users across the world except for the countries in the list will soon be receiving their preordered bitcoin debit cards from Xapo. Xapo bitcoin debit cards are powered by Visa, the international financial solutions provider. According to the company, these Xapo bitcoin debit cards can be used at any POS terminal or ATM machines or online payment gateways that supports Visa cards.
Unlike other bitcoin debit cards which acts as preloaded cards where users will load it with predefined number of bitcoin before using it at a POS terminal, ATM or online store, Xapo debit cards are directly linked to users’ Xapo wallet. All charges made on these debit card will be deducted from the wallet’s bitcoin balance.
Xapo’s bitcoin debit card will make it easier for people to spend bitcoin for their everyday expenses without having to find the merchant who accepts bitcoin payments.