Coinbase launches crypto debit card for US customers

Major crypto exchange Coinbase announced today that its customers in the US can now join a waitlist to acquire a Coinbase Card – which is a Visa debit card – that allows its customers to spend crypto for payments and purchases online and in-store -anywhere that Visa is accepted. The Coinbase Card which is already available across Europe can also be used for ATM cash withdrawals in the U.S. Coinbase has called this new feature “the easiest, quickest way to spend your crypto worldwide.” 

The Coinbase Card would not be the first to allow users to spend crypto for purchases as several other debit cards around the world already offer the same crypto payment option. However such services often require customers to add funds onto the card in order to make payments with it.

But according to Coinbase, it’s new card would eliminate middlemen and instead get funds onto the card directly from the user’s Coinbase account. Moreover the Coinbase Card supports nine currencies and also converts them to US dollars before completing purchases and ATM withdrawals. The Coinbase card also introduces a rewards scheme, where rewards will be available for US-based customers only initially and will depend on the cryptocurrency used. For instance, customers can get 1% back if they spend bitcoins and 4% back if they choose Stellar Lumens (XLM). 

US customers who have a verified Coinbase account will be able to use the Coinbase Card; however, the firm has not made its new Card feature available to customers based in Hawaii. Coinbase stated that it would not charge an issuance fee for the card but that it would apply standard cryptocurrency conversion fees – that will be shared during the card’s signup. 

Recently, payment giant PayPal had announced that by 2021 its users could hold, buy and sell cryptocurrencies such as BTC, ETH and LTC which PayPal customers can use to make purchases with, at merchants in its network.