It has been confirmed that the Coinbase Card is being expanded. Cryptocurrency users will now be able to use this card with more currencies and in more countries. What will this mean for the markets and for individual users?
What Is the Coinbase Card?
This Visa debit card is issued by the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange. Holders of a card can spend their virtual cash straight from their accounts. To get started on ordering a card, they need to download a mobile app for Android or iOS devices.
The Coinbase site calls it, “the easiest, quickest way to spend your crypto worldwide”. They also point out that you can use it in millions of locations, such as shops and ATMs. It allows for contactless, chip and PIN payments.
There is no monthly fee and ATM withdrawals are free up to £200 or €200 each month. The Cardholder Agreement on the Coinbase site lists all of the fees and terms.
Discover the New Additions
The Coinbase Card was first launched in April of this year. It was originally available for British users and only worked with a limited number of currencies.
These latest changes see five more cryptocurrencies get added to the card. These are BAT (Basic Attention Token), REP (Augur Reputation), XLM (Stellar Lumens), XRP (Ripple) and ZRX (0x).
This comes in addition to the four coins that were originally supported. These are BCH (Bitcoin Cash), BTC (Bitcoin), ETH (Ethereum) and LTC (Litecoin).
In terms of countries, there are now 29 of them where customers can order the card. Among the new nations added are Denmark, Sweden, Poland and Bulgaria. In fact, the only EU countries where it now isn’t available are Malta and Czech Republic.
JD Millwood is the Head of Marketing at Coinbase UK. In a statement, he pointed out that the “Coinbase Card has helped tens of thousands of users” since being launched. The company believes that demand for the card will grow in the run-up to Christmas.
What Effect Might This Have?
There is no doubt that lots of people are interested in convenient ways of using their cryptocurrency funds. Another card of this type is the GRID X BitTorrent card on the TRON blockchain. A Litecoin card called BlockCard should be out soon too.
All of this means that more and more people are likely to make the switch to using cryptocurrencies. The more options such as the Coinbase Card that are made available, the greater the chance of newcomers buying and using Bitcoin, Ripple and other digital coins.