In a shocking turn of events, BitPay has partnered up with Advanced Cash, an online payment system offering virtual and physical debit cards to their customers. Thanks to this partnership, Advanced Cash users can now use Bitcoin to pay for their Mastercard debit card, and even fund their virtual or physical card with this popular digital currency.
Advanced Cash: A Brief Introduction
For those of you who have never heard of Advanced Cash, allow me to explain. Advanced Cash is an e-currency platform which consists of multiple features, including e-wallets, virtual and plastic debit cards [Mastercard brand], international money transfers and bulk payments for businesses.
Not only is Advanced Cash faster compared to traditional payment methods for transferring money, but they are also cheaper than a bank account and much easier to use than other e-currency systems. New deposit and withdrawals methods – such as Bitcoin in this case – are being implemented on a regular basis in order to expand the service’s global presence.
The most interesting fact about their physical Mastercard debit card is the fact it has no monthly or yearly charges, and runs on minimal charges for funding and spending the currency it’s loaded with. On top of that, since this is a physical debit card, it’s easy and convenient to withdraw funds from any ATM around the world.
But maybe even more amazing than all of that is the fact you can get your plastic and virtual debit card funded by other Advanced Cash users. As soon as someone sends funds to your Advanced Cash account, you can use it to top up the balance of your Mastercard Debit Card. A pretty convenient feature that many users will enjoy.
“We are excited to be finally able to offer our customers an easy and affordable way to fund their e-wallets in Bitcoin and then manage their online funds the way they want. We definitely see a growing demand for this. Advanced Cash is all about giving our clients the most cutting edge tools powered by latest technology available, and here, BitPay solutions are of a great value.” – Yaacov Bitton, CEO of Advanced Cash
0% Fees on Bitcoin Funding
Because Advanced Cash has chosen to partner with BitPay – the world’s leading Bitcoin payment processor – users can deposit bitcoins to their account with no additional fees involved. This is a great way to convince more experienced Bitcoin users to give the service a try – which is something I will be doing in order to properly review the service at a later stage.
The choice to accept Bitcoin as a payment and withdrawal method was quite easy to make. Advanced Cash acknowledges the growth of the Bitcoin industry on a global scale, especially regarding the number of transactions and technological advancements being made. In order to meet customer expectations, companies such as Advanced Cash need to come up with scaleable solutions, for which Bitcoin is a perfect fit.
Bitcoin can be used to fund both plastic and virtual debit cards issued by Advanced Cash. Conversion from Bitcoin to fiat currency is done on the fly and based on Advanced Cash’s internal exchange rate. In turn, these debit cards can be used anywhere MasterCard is an accepted form of payment, both online and offline.
“Advanced Cash is doing a great job at promoting Bitcoin adoption globally. For Latin America, it is a great use case. As Bitcoin acceptance is developing in the region, it is good for Bitcoin users to have an alternative for using their Bitcoins in places that have not adopted this new form of payment yet. Additionally, with fees as low as 0% to fund an account with Bitcoin, it makes it very competitive and very convenient for money transfers, given that Advanced Cash is available in 200 countries worldwide.” – Pablo Magro, Latin America BitPay Team