Last month, San Francisco-based bitcoin startup Shift Payments announced plans to release a new debit-card system that would enable users to pay with traditional bank accounts, as well as bitcoin and Ripple wallets. Backed by tech-industry kingmakers Y Combinator, the card promised to serve as a next-generation bridge between digital currencies and traditional banking by […]
If San Francisco-based bitcoin startup Shift Payments has its way, Xapo’s newly launched debit card system may soon have some serious competition. The Y Combinator-backed company announced that it was currently testing a new debit card system enabling users to pay with existing bitcoin and Ripple wallets. If successful, the system would expand to allow […]
After days of silence, Xapo has responded to customer concerns about the recently updated fee schedule for their recently released, bitcoin-backed debit card. The Palo Alto-based bitcoin wallet and “vault” service had promised a service with no additional customer costs beyond a one-time $15 activation fee and standard credit card interchange fees, but a revision […]
In a story published by The Australian Financial Review (AFR), Visa’s CEO Charles Scharf said that the payment company could handle bitcoin-based payments in the future, although it currently had no plans to integrate such payments. Scharf’s was speaking at the opening of Visa Labs in San Francisco, and the comments were prompted by a […]
Online bitcoin wallet provider Xapo caught the attention of the cryptocurrency community back in April when it announced plans to debut a credit-card system compatible debit card. After the initial buzz, however, Xapo was relatively quiet about the project. In early June, Xapo founder Wences Casares said that the project was still being actively developed, […]
Speaking with payment industry trade publication PaymentsSource, Xapo founder Wences Casares said his company’s much anticipated bitcoin-backed debit card will debut later this month. First announced in late April, the debit card is tied directly to a Xapo-hosted hot wallet, with coins instantly sold and converted to local currency. Although other bitcoin services offer debit […]
Canadian virtual currency exchange Vault of Satoshi (VoS) recently announced several major new services for its rapidly growing customer base. The announcement is the first of two major “Summer Update” announcements, with the second planned in the near future. VoS Director of Marketing Adam Cochran posted the announcements to several popular bitcoin forums, as well […]
Bitcoin purchasing platform Bittylicious announced an exiting development just shy of its one-year anniversary: E.U. citizens are now able to use credit and debit cards to purchase bitcoin through the site. The U.K.-based company already offers a standard payment options, such as bank transfers and mobile payments, but the ability to irreversibly purchace BTC through […]
One of the biggest frustrations for bitcoin users is the lack of cryptocurrency-accepting merchants. Even if you have a fortune in bitcoin, actually using it in everyday life ranges from being a huge hassle to completely impossible. Bridging the gap between the existing world of bank and credit-card based currency and bitcoin is the billion-dollar […]
If there was a single roadblock to mainstream bitcoin adoption, it would be the limited point of sale (POS) options. Even for a relatively tech-savvy person, bitcoin transactions in their current form can be a little on the awkward side, involving smartphones, wireless connections, QR codes and confirmation delays. For the average person, swiping a […]